Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 18:1
To the chief Musician, [A Psalm] of David, the servant of the LORD, who spoke unto the LORD the words of this song in the day [that] the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
1. I will love thee ] Fervently do I love thee, a word occurring nowhere else in this form, and denoting tender and intimate affection. This verse is omitted in 2 Sam.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 3. Introductory prelude, in which one title is heaped upon another to express all that experience had proved Jehovah to be to David.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will love thee, O Lord – This verse is not found in the song in 2 Sam. 22. It appears to have been added after the first composition of the psalm, either by David as expressive of his ardent love for the Lord in view of his merciful interpositions in his behalf, and on the most careful and most mature review of those mercies, or by the collector of the Psalms when they were adapted to purposes of public worship, as a proper commencement of the psalm – expressive of the feeling which the general tenor of the psalm was fitted to inspire. It is impossible now to determine by whom it was added; but no one can doubt that it is a proper commencement of a psalm that is designed to recount so many mercies. It is the feeling which all should have when they recall the goodness of God to them in their past lives.
My strength – The source of my strength, or from whom all my strength is derived. So Psa 27:1, The Lord is the strength of my life. Psa 28:8, he is the saving strength of his anointed. Compare Psa 29:11; Psa 46:1; Psa 73:26; Psa 81:1; Psa 140:7.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 18:1-3
I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.
The tale of a life
In this magnificent hymn the royal poet sketches, in a few grand outlines, the tale of his life–the record of his marvellous deliverances, and of the victories which Jehovah had given him–the record, too, of his own heart, the truth of its affection towards God, and the integrity of purpose by which it had ever been influenced. Throughout that singularly chequered life, hunted as he had been by Saul before he came to the throne, and harassed perpetually after he became king by rivals, who disputed his authority and endeavoured to steal away the hearts of his people–compelled to fly for his life before his own son, and engaged afterwards in long and fierce wars with foreign nations–one thing had never forsaken him, the love and presence of Jehovah. By His help he had subdued every enemy, and now, in his old age, looking back with devout thankfulness on the past, he sings this great song of praise to the God of his life. With a heart full of love he will tell how Jehovah delivered him, and then there rises before the eyes of his mind the whole force and magnitude of the peril from which he had escaped. So much the more wonderful appears the deliverance which accordingly he represents in a bold poetical figure, as a stooping of the Most High from heaven to save him–who comes, as He came of old to Sinai, with all the terror and gloom of earthquake, and tempest, and thick darkness. But God delivers those only who trust in Him and who are like Him. There must be an inner life of communion with God, if man will know His mercy. Hence David passes on to that covenant relationship in which he had stood to God. He had ever been a true Israelite, and therefore God, the true God of Israel, had dealt with him accordingly. And thus it is at the last that the servant of Jehovah finds his reward. (J. J. Stewart Perowne, B. D.)
Have we permission to love God
It will awaken surprise in you to hear this question, yet it cannot exceed mine on hearing it, as I once did, from a distinguished man whom I had long regarded as truly devout. Being together at the house of his relative, this man, of worldwide reputation as a man of genius, astonished me with this question, What do you understand by love to God? I looked at him with surprise; but before I could speak he added, I know what fear of God means; but I do not understand what is meant when I am called upon to love God. Had I uttered the thought which arose in my mind I should have said, I always supposed you to be a Christian; can it be possible that you have need that one should teach you the alphabet of religious experience? But I put questions to him, encouraged by his frank nature, and I now discovered that his difficult was this, that loving God implied a degree of familiarity which seemed to him unsuitable in a finite creature when approaching his Creator. He acknowledged that the language of the Bible encouraged the idea of familiarity in our intercourse with God; still, he preferred to explain all such permission by what he called Orientalism. In vain was it urged in reply that Orientalism rather forbade than encouraged liberty in approaching Majesty; prostration, even to abjectness, was enjoined on ministers of state, as well as menial servants. Hence there are two extremes against which we have need to be on our guard. One is familiarity; the other is stoicism. The apostles maintain a just medium between these extremes. The question which I have already mentioned as put to me by a man of distinguished genius was also expressed by a plain man, a mechanic, he was in the last stages of a decline, but in full possession of his faculties. Once as I was leaving his bedside he said, One thing more I wish to ask: I lie here and talk with God in a way which startles me. I use expressions of endearment, address Him by affectionate names, make requests as a child to a parent, indulge in words of adoration; all of which, on second thought, seem to me too free for a mortal to use in his intercourse with his Master. Yet my feelings are so strong that I cannot restrain myself. I said to him, You ask, May you love God thus? The Saviour says, quoting the Old Testament, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. Do you ever exceed this. An expression of satisfaction came over his face. The next day he had gone to see Him whom not having seen he loved. The words of the text leave no room to question that the, predominant feeling of David was this, I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength. Then he proceeds to heap up epithets of love to God. He draws them from his experience in wildernesses and caves. Had he been a seafaring man we doubtless should have had him saying, Thou art my lighthouse, my pilot, my harbour; to Thee I am homeward bound; with Thee I am safe home. How enthusiastic in passionate expression of love to God is all true religious poetry. And when a man is converted, how his heart goes out in love to God. See this in Paul. And here is one instance from the preaching of the Gospel, and there are scores of such. A man was riding home on horseback after evening service, meditating on what he had heard. He was secretly persuaded to yield himself up to God, when all at once light from heaven broke upon his mind, revealing to him the way of salvation by Christ with a sense of peace with God and the joy of pardoned sin; so that he found himself in a new world. Unable to contain his joy at the discovery, having no one at home who could enter into his feelings, turning his horses head, he rode back three miles to the ministers house, and called him to the door. Taking both of the ministers hands in his, he cried out, Oh, sir! what a God we have! which was the substance of all that he said, for it was impossible for words to express his emotions, and he mounted and rode home, singing and praying. No one would have found it more impossible than he to answer the question, What do you understand by loving God?–he whose whole being was at that hour flooded with it could have found no words to define his emotions. Does anyone say, Of what value can such emotions be to God? We might answer him, Of what value is anything to God? He will one day give up this globe to fire. There is nothing of any value to God except love. The whole object of God in the Bible seems everywhere to have been to make men love Him.
I. The experience of men in the Bible shows us that the sum of human duty is to love God. See the Book of Deuteronomy, to which our Lord so often referred. It is full of expostulations to urge Israel to love God. Joshua, too, does not hid them tremble, as he well might, in view of their stupendous history, but love the Lord. Some will say this seems very strange. Let such consider that there is no way in which, on account of the hardness of our hearts, God brings us to love Him more effectually than by His terrible dispensations. When night comes down in the Azores the lavender beds yield perfumes which all day long the hot sun had consumed. After a storm we look for sea mosses and pebbles which the working of the sea has ,brought on shore. The Lord hath said that He will dwell in the thick darkness–so spoke Solomon, and it is true. If God desires to draw a Christian very near to Himself, He will almost always send a heavy trial upon him. David said, When He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold. We see Christians who have been grievously afflicted, cleaving to God the more that He smites them. If God has set His love on a man He may honour him by great trials. He cannot trust all to bear great trials. He said of Saul of Tarsus, I will show him how great things he must suffer, for My sake. Probably there is nothing which excites the admiration of angels more than to see us loving God the more that He afflicts us. Then they see the power of faith; how it makes a man endure as seeing Him who is invisible.
II. The Cross of Christ is the Divine testimony to man, not only that he may but that he must love God. See how John in his epistles insists on this, that God is Love. The governing principle in God is love. Other attributes belong to Him, but He is none of them. God is Love. Therefore He must desire the love of His people. They are born of the Spirit. Shall man, His new creation, be a cold, phlegmatic, intellectual being? May we be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God. (N. Adams, D. D.)
A text that looks two ways
I. Backward, upon the mercies and deliverances of God. These are expressed in the titles used–strength, rock, fortress, etc. These are synonymous phrases, signifying one and the same thing. There is not here merely the exuberance of a poetical style. The apparent exaggeration in Davids hymn flows from the abundance of a devout and grateful heart labouring to empty and discharge its fulness. How well such a full acknowledgment would become us!
II. Forward, in the returns of duty, to which he engageth himself.
1. Of love (Psa 18:1).
2. Of trust (Psa 18:1).
3. Of praise and prayer (Psa 18:3).
We are to love God for His own excellencies, because He requires it, and in response to His love. Trust is an act of friendship, and the greatest fruit it yields, mutual confidence, springing naturally from mutual affection. (J. Dolben, D. D.)
A song of thanksgiving in review of a troublous life
This Psalm is a fervent outpouring of gratitude, not for any single deliverance, but for all the deliverances of his tried and stormy life.
I. A life greatly troubled. Four facts concerning ungodly men. They were worthless, numerous, violent, and indefatigable. And our sufferings, as Davids, grow out of our physical constitution, our social relationships, our moral delinquencies and remorses.
II. A God equal to all emergencies. God appears to David in his trials in a two-fold aspect–passive and active: resting as a rock, and moving as a thunderstorm.
1. God appeared to him as his all-sufficient protector. A refuge impregnable, ever accessible, and everlasting.
2. God appeared as his triumphant deliverer. The description of God moving for his deliverance is grandly poetic. This poetic description is both natural and religious. Three observations are suggested–
(1) It is a movement in answer to prayer.
(2) It is a movement sublimely grand.
(3) It is a movement completely effective.
III. A soul alive with true sentiments.
1. Love. Love to God is the essence of goodness, and the sum total of mans obligation.
2. Trust. This is connected with love. True love has respect to excellence, and will ever lead to trusting.
3. Praise. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. Worship is heaven. (Homilist.)
Love to God possible..
I cannot love God, said a thoughtless man, for I have never seen Him. Canst thou not? replied his companion. Then thou canst do less than the little blind girl who sits under the shade of the chestnut tree on the village green. She can love her father and mother, though she has never seen them, and will never see them till the latest hour of her life.
Jesus is my love
The Lollards Tower in London, constructed by Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, in his palace at Lambeth, at the cost of six hundred pounds, was often filled with persons accused of heresy. The walls of this dungeon still bear witness to the sorrows and hopes of those who suffered in this place. The words Jesus amor meus (Jesus is in Love), written by some poor martyr, may still be seen upon the wall in the Lollards Tower.
Davids thanksgiving for his deliverance
Many songs of thanksgiving were composed by David. Perhaps it would be too bold for us to say that this Psalm excels them all; but we may say without hesitation, that none of them excels this.
I. Of Davids deliverance from the hands of his enemies. In the early part of Davids life he obtained signal instances of Gods preserving mercy. A lion and a bear came to destroy a lamb of his fold; David had the courage to attack both these fierce animals in defence of the young of his flock, and the Lord delivered him. A great deliverance was granted to himself, and through him to his people, when the Lord delivered into his hand the terrible giant of Gath. Many and wonderful were the deliverances which he obtained from Saul. David sometimes thought it necessary for himself to leave the Lords land and to seek refuge among strangers, who were not such heathens as many of his own people. Among them, too, he found protection and obtained great deliverances. The king of Moab behaved to him with kindness, so far as we know. Among the Philistines he was more than once in extreme danger. But the Lord was still his stay and his helper. When the Philistines were brought low by many terrible engagements, David was still exposed to great perils, but the Lord preserved him whithersoever he went. Neither Moabites, nor Ammonites, nor Syrians of different kingdoms could stand before him, either singly or in conjunction, for the Lord taught his hands to war and his fingers to fight. But when the Lord had given him rest from his enemies round about, evil rose up against him out of his own kingdom and out of his own house. Sheba rose up after Absalom to seek his life, but he soon lost his own, as his predecessor in wickedness had done. These were some of Davids deliverances from his many visible enemies; and they were attended and sweetened by other deliverances, not less, but still more important. He was sometimes almost overwhelmed by fear and dejection of spirit. He was often in great bodily distress; but he cried unto the Lord and was healed (Psa 30:1-12). But the most dangerous of his troubles were those which he suffered from the law in his members warring against the law in his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which was in his members.
II. Of God as the deliverer of David. Salvation is of the Lord (Psa 3:8). Everywhere we find him giving to the Lord the glory of the salvation wrought for him. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. The God of my rock, in Him will I trust: He is my shield and the horn of my salvation; my high tower and my refuge, my Saviour, Thou savest me from violence (2Sa 22:2-3). For who is God save the Lord? Who is a rock save our God? (2Sa 22:32). We know that there were many heroes who obtained a just and glorious name for the valiant exploits which they performed in the defence of their king and country. One of them had the honour of preserving the life of David when the hand of a terrible giant was lifted up against him. And there were many besides his mighty men to whom he was greatly indebted for signal service. His life was at one time saved by the kindness and wit of his wife Michal, at another time by the good offices of Jonathan, and even the Philistines were at one time made the instruments of preserving the life of that champion of Israel who was to be the destroyer of their power. But we never find David employing his fine genius in celebrating the exploits of these heroes to whom he was so greatly indebted. God is pleased for the most part to employ means and instruments in His works of mercy or of vengeance. But they do neither less nor more than God has intended to accomplish by them. It was God who made use of the Philistines for the salvation of David at Selah-hammah-lekoth. They were far from meaning so, neither did their heart think so. God employed not only men on earth, but the angels of heaven, for the deliverance of David from his enemies, and therefore, in his commendations of the goodness of God to himself, he assures us that the angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear the Lord, and delivers them. Let their way be dark and slippery, and let the angel of the Lord persecute them (Psa 35:1-28). Whatever were the means employed for the deliverances of David, no doubt was left in the mind of any reasonable man concerning the great Author of his salvation. The Lord gave us sensible proofs of His presence with David and of His indignation against his enemies, as if He had in the literal sense bowed the heavens and come down. Had we hearts like David we would often be rejoicing in God, and singing His praises, when our corrupt dispositions prompt us to utter complaints as if God had forgotten to be gracious, because He will not resign the management of all our affairs into our own hands.
III. Of this Psalm of thanksgiving to God felt all His deliverances. In this Psalm we find David expressing–
1. The ardour of his love to that God who had blessed him with so many and such wonderful deliverances. Dearly he loved the God of his salvation, before he needed any of the deliverances which gave occasion to this Psalm. But every new deliverance increased the ardour of his love.
2. We find him expressing his firm reliance on God as the God of his salvation. His faith was powerfully invigorated by every new deliverance. And would we not greatly dishonour Him if we withheld from Him our confidence after a thousand proofs of His special favour? (Psa 18:2-3).
3. He expatiates on the greatness, on the grace, on the glory of these salvations which had been wrought for him. He illustrates the greatness of the salvations by representing the dreadful danger from which he was delivered. The terrors of death had fallen upon him. He was like a brand plucked out of the burning, or like a man raised out of the grave. His deliverance was the answer of fervent cries addressed to God from the depths into which he was cast. We are too much disposed to look with a careless eye on the great works of God.
4. He celebrates the excellency of those Divine perfections which were manifested in his deliverance. He shews forth the glory of that righteousness which appeared in the gracious rewards bestowed on himself, and the vengeance inflicted on his wicked enemies. He shows forth the glory of the Lord as the God of salvation, who bad given striking and incontestable proofs of His saving power and grace in the salvations wrought for him. None of the gods of the nations had ever given any proofs of their power to save their worshippers that trusted in them. Great things God had done for David. David had himself performed wonderful things, and achieved victories that were to make him famous through all generations. But not to himself, but to his God was the praise due.
5. He praises God, and expresses his unshaken confidence in Him for the great things that were yet to be done for him, and for his seed after him. On the whole, we are taught by this Psalm what improvement we ought to make of the great works of God, recorded in His Word. If David saw and admired and celebrated in such strains of rapture his deliverance from the hand of his enemies, can we sufficiently admire the glory that shines forth in the whole train of providential administration recorded in the volume of inspiration? Manifold were the salvations wrought by God for Abraham and Jacob, for Moses and the people of Israel. Nor ought we to forget any of Gods deliverances wrought for ourselves. Nor ought we to forget the obligations that lie upon us to praise God for our friends and brethren. (G. Lawson.)
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer.
Shutting the gates of Derry
In token of his gratitude to Jehovah for deliverance from Sauls malevolence, David wrote this Psalm, a glowing composition, in which martial similes abound. Thanksgiving is not only a national, but an individual duty. There are few today who seem to apprehend this obligation. With simple truthfulness it might be affirmed of most of us–Prayers are many, thanks are rare. How many of us who, in critical moments and in sad emergencies, resorted to our God for deliverance and protection, sought His presence again when He heard our prayer and saw our tears? Not without deep meaning and subtle experience of human perversity did David write, I will pay Thee my vows which I spake with my mouth when I was in trouble. (M. B. Hogg, B. A.)
The horn of my salvation.–
The horn of my salvation
The allusion here is doubtful. Some have supposed the reference to be to the horns of animals, by which they defend themselves and attack their enemies. God is to me, does for me, what their horns do for them. Others consider it as referring to the well-established fact, that warriors were accustomed to place horns, or ornaments like horns, on their helmets. The horn stands for the helmet; and the helmet of salvation is an expression equivalent to a saving, a protecting helmet. Others consider the reference as to the corners or handles of the altar in the court of the tabernacle or temple, which are called its horns. Others suppose the reference to be to the highest point of a lofty and precipitous mountain, which we are accustomed to call its peak. No doubt, in the Hebrew language, horn is used for mountain, as in Isa 5:1. A very fertile mountain is called a horn of oil. The sense is substantially the same whichever of these views we take; though, from the connection with shield or buckler, I am induced to consider the second of these views as the most probable. It seems the same idea as that expressed (Psa 140:7), Thou hast covered, and Thou wilt cover my head in the day of battle. (John Brown.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PSALM XVIII
David’s address of thanks to Jehovah, 1-3.
A relation of sufferings undergone, and prayers made for
assistance, 4-6.
A magnificent description of Divine interposition in behalf
of the sufferer, 7-15;
and of the deliverance wrought for him, 16-19.
That this deliverance was in consideration of his
righteousness, 20-24;
and according to the tenor of God’s equitable proceedings,
25-28.
To Jehovah is ascribed the glory of the victory, 29-36;
which is represented as complete by the destruction of all
his opponents, 37-42.
On these events the heathen submit, 43-45.
And for all these things God is glorified, 46-50.
NOTES ON PSALM XVIII
The title: “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.”
Except the first clause, this title is taken from 2Sa 22:1. The reader is requested to turn to the notes on 2Sa 22:1, for some curious information on this Psalm, particularly what is extracted from Dr. Kennicott. This learned writer supposes the whole to be a song of the Messiah, and divides it into five parts, which he thus introduces: –
“The Messiah’s sublime thanksgivings, composed by David when his wars were at an end, towards the conclusion of his life. And in this sacred song the goodness of God is celebrated, 1. For Messiah’s resurrection from the dead, with the wonders attending that awful event, and soon following it. 2. For the punishment inflicted on the Jews; particularly by the destruction of Jerusalem. And, 3. For the obedience of the Gentile nations. See Ro 15:9; Heb 2:13; and Mt 28:2-4; with Mt 24:7; Mt 24:29.”
And that the title now prefixed to this hymn here and in 2Sa 22:1, describes only the time of its composition, seems evident; for who can ascribe to David himself as the subject, 2Sa 22:5-6; 2Sa 22:8-17; 2Sa 22:21-26; 2Sa 22:30; 2Sa 22:42; 2Sa 22:44, c.?
In Dr. Kennicott’s remarks there is a new translation of the whole Psalm, p. 178, c.
The strong current of commentators and critics apply this Psalm to Christ and to oppose a whole host of both ancients and moderns would argue great self-confidence. In the main I am of the same mind and on this principle chiefly I shall proceed to its illustration; still however considering that there are many things in it which concern David, and him only. Drs. Chandler and Delaney have been very successful in their illustration of various passages in it; all the best critics have brought their strongest powers to bear on it; and most of the commentators have laboured it with great success; and Bishop Horne has applied the whole of it to Christ. My old Psalter speaks highly in its praise: “This Psalme contenes the sacrement of al chosyn men, the qwilk doand the law of God thurgh the seven fald grace of the Haly Gast fra al temptaciouns, and the pouste of dede and of the devel lesid: this sang thai syng til God; and thankes him and says, I sal luf the Lord, noght a day or twa, bot ever mare: my strength, thurgh quam I am stalworth in thoght.”
Verse 1. I will love thee] Love always subsists on motive and reason. The verb racham signifies to love with all the tender feelings of nature. “From my inmost bowels will I love thee, O Lord!” Why should he love Jehovah? Not merely because he was infinitely great and good, possessed of all possible perfections, but because he was good to him: and he here enumerates some of the many blessings he received from him.
My strength.]
1. Thou who hast given me power over my adversaries, and hast enabled me to avoid evil and do good.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The servant of the Lord; who esteemeth it a greater honour to be thy servant, than to be king of Israel, and who doth entirely devote himself to thy service and glory.
In the day that the Lord delivered him, i.e. after the death of Saul, and the conquest of all his succeeding enemies, and his own firm establishment in his kingdom.
David professeth his love to God, Psa 18:1, and his confidence in his attributes, Psa 18:2. He praises God for deliverance out of trouble, Psa 18:3-5. His experience of Gods hearing him in an awful manner, Psa 18:6-31. He acknowledgeth Gods help against his enemies, Psa 18:32-50.
Most affectionately and with my whole soul; as the Hebrew word signifies. I can return thee no better thing for all thy favours than my love and heart, which I pray thee to accept. By loving him he understands not only his inward affection, but also all the outward expressions and testimonies of it, praising, and glorifying, and serving of him.
O Lord, my strength; from whom alone I have received all my strength, and success, and settlement, and in whom alone I trust, as it follows, Psa 18:2.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. I will love theewith mosttender affection.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. These words are not in twenty second chapter of Second Samuel: the psalm there begins with
Ps 18:2. The psalmist here expresses his love to the Lord, and his continuance in it; that Jehovah the Father was, is, and ever will be the object of Christ’s love, is certain; and which has appeared by his readiness in the council and covenant of grace to do his will; by his coming down from heaven to earth for that purpose; by his delight in it, it being his meat and drink to do it; and by his sufferings and death, which were in compliance with, and obedience to it, Joh 14:31; and as in David, so in all regenerate ones, there is love to God; Jehovah is loved by them in all his persons; Jehovah the Father is loved, and to be loved, for the perfections of his nature, because of the works of his hands, of creation and providence; and particularly because of his works of special grace and goodness, and especially because of his love wherewith he has loved his people, 1Jo 4:19. Jehovah the Son is loved, and to be loved, above all creatures and things whatever, sincerely and heartily, fervently and constantly; because of the loveliness of his person, the love of his heart, and his works of grace and redemption; all of him is lovely; and he is to be loved, and is loved, in his person, offices, relations, people, word, and ordinances: Jehovah the Spirit is loved, and to be loved, because of his person and perfections, and operations of grace; as a sanctifier, comforter, the spirit of adoption, the earnest and pledge of eternal glory. The word here used signifies the most intimate, tender, and affectionate love; it often designs mercy and bowels of mercy; so Aben Ezra interprets it of seeking mercy of God: the reasons are as follow in this verse and Ps 18:2: because “the Lord is my strength”; so he was to Christ as man, who as such was the man of his right hand, the Son of Man, whom he made strong for himself, to do his work, and for his glory, Ps 80:17; he promised to strengthen him, and he did, Ps 89:21; and so he is the strength of all his saints, even Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit; he is the strength of their hearts both in life and at death; he is the strength of their graces, who strengthens that which he has wrought for them, and in them; he strengthens them to do their duty, to bear the cross, and every affliction, and against every enemy of their souls; and this renders him very lovely and amiable to them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 18:2-4) The poet opens with a number of endearing names for God, in which he gratefully comprehends the results of long and varied experience. So far as regards the parallelism of the members, a monostich forms the beginning of this Psalm, as in Psa 16:1-11; Psa 23:1-6; Ps 25 and many others. Nevertheless the matter assumes a somewhat different aspect, if Psa 18:3 is not, with Maurer, Hengstenberg and Hupfeld, taken as two predicate clauses (Jahve is…, my God is…), but as a simple vocative-a rendering which alone corresponds to the intensity with which this greatest of the Davidic hymns opens-God being invoked by , , , and each of these names being followed by a predicative expansion of itself, which increases in fulness of tone and emphasis. The (with a , according to Ew. 251, b), which carries the three series of the names of God, makes up in depth of meaning what is wanting in compass. Elsewhere we find only the Piel of tender sympathising love, but here the Kal is used as an Aramaism. Hence the Jalkut on this passages explains it by “I love thee,” or ardent, heartfelt love and attachment. The primary signification of softness (root , Arab. rh , rch , to be soft, lax, loose), whence , uterus, is transferred in both cases to tenderness of feeling or sentiment. The most general predicate (from according to a similar inflexion to , , , plur. Pro 9:18) is followed by those which describe Jahve as a protector and deliverer in persecution on the one hand, and on the other as a defender and the giver of victory in battle. They are all typical names symbolising what Jahve is in Himself; hence instead of it would perhaps have been more correct to point (and my refuge). God had already called Himself a shield to Abram, Gen 15:1; and He is called (cf. Gen 49:24) in the great Mosaic song, Deu 32:4, Deu 32:37 (the latter verse is distinctly echoed here).
from , Arab. sl , findere, means properly a cleft in a rock (Arabic ,
(Note: Neshwn defines thus: Arab. ‘l – sal is a cutting in a mountain after the manner of a gorge; and Jkt, who cites a number of places that are so called: a wide plain (Arab. fd’ ) enclosed by steep rocks, which is reached through a narrow pass (Arab. sab ), but can only be descended on foot. Accordingly, in the idea of a safe (and comfortable) hiding-place preponderates; in that of firm ground and inaccessibility. The one figure calls to mind the (well-watered) Edomitish surrounded with precipitous rocks, Isa 16:1; Isa 42:11, the described by Strabo, xvi. 4, 21; the other calls to mind the Phoenician rocky island , Sur (Tyre), the refuge in the sea.))
then a cleft rock, and , like the Arabic sachr , a great and hard mass of rock (Aramaic , a mountain). The figures of the ( , ) and the are related; the former signifies properly specula, a watch-tower,
(Note: In Arabic masadun signifies (1) a high hill (a signification that is wanting in Freytag), (2) the summit of a mountain, and according to the original lexicons it belongs to the root Arab. masada , which in outward appearance is supported by the synonymous forms Arab. masadun and masdun , as also by their plurals Arab. amsidatun and musdanun , wince these can only be properly formed from those singulars on the assumption of the m being part of the root. Nevertheless, since the meanings of Arab. masada all distinctly point to its being formed from the root Arab. ms contained in the reduplicated stem Arab. massa , to suck, but the meanings of Arab. masadun , massadun , and masdun do not admit of their being referred to it, and moreover there are instances in which original nn. loci from vv. med. Arab. w and y admit of the prefixed m being treated as the first radical through forgetfulness or disregard of their derivation, and with the retention of its from secondary roots (as Arab. makana , madana , massara ), it is highly probable that in masad , masad and masd we have an original , , . These Hebrew words, however, are to be referred to a in the signification to look out, therefore properly specula. – Fleischer.)
and the latter, a steep height. The horn, which is an ancient figure of victorious and defiant power in Deu 33:17; 1Sa 2:1, is found here applied to Jahve Himself: “horn of my salvation” is that which interposes on the side of my feebleness, conquers, and saves me. All these epithets applied to God are the fruits of the affliction out of which David’s song has sprung, viz., his persecution by Saul, when, in a country abounding in rugged rocks and deficient in forest, he betook himself to the rocks for safety, and the mountains served him as his fortresses. In the shelter which the mountains, by their natural conformations, afforded him at that time, and in the fortunate accidents, which sometimes brought him deliverance when in extreme peril, David recognises only marvellous phenomena of which Jahve Himself was to him the final cause. The confession of the God tried and known in many ways is continued in Psa 18:5 by a general expression of his experience. is a predicate accusative to : As one praised (worthy to be praised) do I call upon Jahve, – a rendering that is better suited to the following clause, which expresses confidence in the answer coinciding with the invocation, which is to be thought of as a cry for help, than Olshausen’s, “Worthy of praise, do I cry, is Jahve,” though this latter certainly is possible so far as the style is concerned (vid., on Isa 45:24, cf. also Gen 3:3; Mic 2:6). The proof of this fact, viz., that calling upon Him who is worthy to be praised, who, as the history of Israel shows, is able and willing to help, is immediately followed by actual help, as events that are coincident, forms the further matter of the Psalm.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| David’s Triumphs in God; Devout Confidence. | |
To the chief musician, A psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD
the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies.
1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. 4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. 6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. 7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. 8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. 9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. 10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. 12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. 13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. 14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. 15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. 16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. 18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. 19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
The title gives us the occasion of penning this psalm; we had it before (2 Sam. xxii. 1), only here we are told that the psalm was delivered to the chief musician, or precentor, in the temple-songs. Note, The private compositions of good men, designed by them for their own use, may be serviceable to the public, that others may not only borrow light from their candle, but heat from their fire. Examples sometimes teach better than rules. And David is here called the servant of the Lord, as Moses was, not only as every good man is God’s servant, but because, with his sceptre, with his sword, and with his pen, he greatly promoted the interests of God’s kingdom in Israel. It was more his honour that he was a servant of the Lord than that he was king of a great kingdom; and so he himself accounted it (Ps. cxvi. 16): O Lord! truly I am thy servant. In these verses,
I. He triumphs in God and his relation to him. The first words of the psalm, I will love thee, O Lord! my strength, are here prefixed as the scope and contents of the whole. Love to God is the first and great commandment of the law, because it is the principle of all our acceptable praise and obedience; and this use we should make of all the mercies God bestows upon us, our hearts should thereby be enlarged in love to him. This he requires and will accept; and we are very ungrateful if we grudge him so poor a return. An interest in the person loved is the lover’s delight; this string therefore he touches, and on this he harps with much pleasure (v. 2): “The Lord Jehovah is my God; and then he is my rock, my fortress, all that I need and can desire in my present distress.” For there is that in God which is suited to all the exigencies and occasions of his people that trust in him. “He is my rock, and strength, and fortress;” that is, 1. “I have found him so in the greatest dangers and difficulties.” 2. “I have chosen him to be so, disclaiming all others, and depending upon him alone to protect me.” Those that truly love God may thus triumph in him as theirs, and may with confidence call upon him, v. 3. This further use we should make of our deliverances, we must not only love God the better, but love prayer the better–call upon him as long as we live, especially in time of trouble, with an assurance that so we shall be saved; for thus it is written, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, Acts ii. 21.
II. He sets himself to magnify the deliverances God had wrought for him, that he might be the more affected in his returns of praise. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy, which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it.
1. The more imminent and threatening the danger was out of which we were delivered the greater is the mercy of the deliverance. David now remembered how the forces of his enemies poured in upon him, which he calls the floods of Belial, shoals of the children of Belial, likely to overpower him with numbers. They surrounded him, compassed him about; they surprised him, and by that means were very near seizing him; their snares prevented him, and, when without were fightings, within were fears and sorrows, Psa 18:4; Psa 18:5. His spirit was overwhelmed, and he looked upon himself as a lost man; see Ps. cxvi. 3.
2. The more earnest we have been with God for deliverance, and the more direct answer it is to our prayers, the more we are obliged to be thankful. David’s deliverances were so, v. 6. David was found a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. Though distress drive us to prayer, God will not therefore be deaf to us; nay, being a God of pity, he will be the more ready to succour us.
3. The more wonderful God’s appearances are in any deliverance the greater it is: such were the deliverances wrought for David, in which God’s manifestation of his presence and glorious attributes is most magnificently described, v. 7, c. Little appeared of man, but much of God, in these deliverances. (1.) He appeared a God of almighty power for he made the earth shake and tremble, and moved even the foundations of the hills (v. 7), as of old at Mount Sinai. When the men of the earth were struck with fear, then the earth might be said to tremble; when the great men of the earth were put into confusion, then the hills moved. (2.) He showed his anger and displeasure against the enemies and persecutors of his people: He was wroth, v. 7. His wrath smoked, it burned, it was fire, it was devouring fire (v. 8), and coals were kindled by it. Those that by their own sins make themselves as coals (that is, fuel) to this fire will be consumed by it. He that ordains his arrows against the persecutors sends them forth when he pleases, and they are sure to hit the mark and do execution; for those arrows are lightnings, v. 14. (3.) He showed his readiness to plead his people’s cause and work deliverance for them; for he rode upon a cherub and did fly, for the maintaining of right and the relieving of his distressed servants, v. 10. No opposition, no obstruction, can be given to him who rides upon the wings of the wind, who rides on the heavens, for the help of his people, and, in his excellency, on the skies. (4.) He showed his condescension, in taking cognizance of David’s case: He bowed the heavens and came down (v. 9), did not send an angel, but came himself, as one afflicted in the afflictions of his people. (5.) He wrapped himself in darkness, and yet commanded light to shine out of darkness for his people, Isa. xlv. 15. He is a God that hideth himself; for he made darkness his pavilion, v. 11. his glory is invisible, his counsels are unsearchable, and his proceedings unaccountable, and so, as to us, clouds and darkness are round about him; we know not the way that he takes, even when he is coming towards us in ways of mercy; but, when his designs are secret, they are kind; for, though he hide himself, he is the God of Israel, the Saviour. And, at his brightness, the thick clouds pass (v. 12), comfort returns, the face of affairs is changed, and that which was gloomy and threatening becomes serene and pleasant.
4. The greater the difficulties are that lie in the way of deliverance the more glorious the deliverance is. For the rescuing of David, the waters were to be divided till the very channels were seen; the earth was to be cloven till the very foundations of it were discovered, v. 15. There were waters deep and many, waters out of which he was to be drawn (v. 16), as Moses, who had his name from being drawn out of the water literally, as David was figuratively. His enemies were strong, and they hated him; had he been left to himself, they would have been too strong for him, v. 17. And they were too quick for him; for they prevented him in the day of his calamity, v. 18. But, in the midst of his troubles, the Lord was his stay, so that he did not sink. Note, God will not only deliver his people out of their troubles in due time, but he will sustain them and bear them up under their troubles in the mean time.
5. That which especially magnified the deliverance was that his comfort was the fruit of it and God’s favour was the root and fountain of it. (1.) It was an introduction to his preferment, v. 19. “He brought me forth also out of my straits into a large place, where I had room, not only to turn, but to thrive in.” (2.) It was a token of God’s favour to him, and that made it doubly sweet: “He delivered me because he delighted in me, not for my merit, but for his own grace and good-will.” Compare this with 2 Sam. xv. 26, If he thus say, I have no delight in thee, here I am. We owe our salvation, that great deliverance, to the delight God had in the Son of David, in whom he has declared himself to be well pleased.
In singing this we must triumph in God, and trust in him: and we may apply it to Christ the Son of David. The sorrows of death surrounded him; in his distress he prayed (Heb. v. 7); God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, into a large place, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Psalms 18
AN HYMN OF GRATITUDE
Verses 1-3:
David’s Resolution
This Is a Psalm of David when the Lord delivered him from the hand of Saul and all his enemies. And he said:
Verse 1 “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength;” He loved him with intense affection, from the inmost bowels, Jer 31:20; 1Sa 30:6; Psa 144:1. For He was David’s strength in seven ways of perfection:
Verses 2, 8 list the seven ways and one, even the Lord was David’s strength, the basis of his trust in praise to Him:
1)First, he was his rock, foundation, immovable, Deu 32:4; 1Co 3:11.
2)Second, he was his fortress, 2Sa 22:2; Psa 81:3; Psa 71:3; Psa 91:2; Psa 144:2.
3)Third, he was his deliverer, Psa 40:17; Psa 70:5; Rom 11:26.
4)Fourth, he was his God, Exo 15:2; Psa 18:6; Php_4:19.
5)Fifth, he was his strength, in whom he trusted, Heb 2:13; Exo 15:2; Hab 3:19.
6)Sixth, he was his buckler, Pro 2:7; 2Sa 22:31; Psa 18:30.
7)Seventh, he was his horn of salvation, or honor, 2Sa 22:3, Luk 1:69.
8)Eighth, he was his high tower, 2Sa 22:3; Psa 144:2.
He resolved therefore to call upon the Lord who was worthy to be praised, the “praised Lord,” Neh 9:5; Psa 65:1-2; Psa 76:4; Rev 4:11; Rev 5:12-14. He had learned that the “effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” Jas 5:16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. And he said, etc. I will not stop to examine too minutely the syllables, or the few words, in which this psalm differs from the song which is recorded in the twenty-second chapter of the Second Book of Samuel. When, however, we meet with any important difference, we shall advert to it in the proper place; and we find one in the remarkable sentence with which this psalm commences, I will love thee affectionately, O Jehovah, my strength, which is omitted in the song in Samuel. As the Scripture does not use the verb רהם, racham, for to love, except in the conjugation pihel, and as it is here put in the conjugation kal, some of the Jewish expositors explain it as here meaning to seek mercy; as if David had said, Lord, since I have so often experienced thee to be a merciful God, I will trust to and repose in thy mercies for ever. And certainly this exposition would not be unsuitable, but I am unwilling to depart from the other, which is more generally received. It is to be observed, that love to God is here laid down as constituting the principal part of true godliness; for there is no better way of serving God than to love him. No doubt, the service which we owe him is better expressed by the word reverence, that thus his majesty may prominently stand forth to our view in its infinite greatness. But as he requires nothing so expressly as to possess all the affections of our heart, and to have them going out towards him, so there is no sacrifice which he values more than when we are bound fast to him by the chain of a free and spontaneous love; and, on the other hand, there is nothing in which his glory shines forth more conspicuously than in his free and sovereign goodness. Moses, therefore, (Deu 10:12,) when he meant to give a summary of the law, says,
“
And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to love him?”
In speaking thus, David, at the same time, intended to show that his thoughts and affections were not so intently fixed upon the benefits of God as to be ungrateful to him who was the author of them, a sin which has been too common in all ages. Even at this day we see how the greater part of mankind enjoy wholly at their ease the gifts of God without paying any regard to him, or, if they think of him at all, it is only to despise him. David, to prevent himself from falling into this ingratitude, in these words makes as it were a solemn vow, Lord, as thou art my strength, I will continue united and devoted to thee by unfeigned love.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE ACCEPTABLE MAN
Psalms 15-18
IN walk, work and word.
Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle f who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour (Psa 15:1-3).
In both spirit and speech.
In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not (Psa 15:4).
In character and conduct.
He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved (Psa 15:5).
THE DEPENDENT MAN
He looks to God for his reservation.
Preserve me, O God: for in Thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to Thee;
But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot (Psa 16:1-5).
He acknowledges the goodness of God.
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved (Psa 16:6-8).
He trusts the keeping grace of God.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy Presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psa 16:9-11).
Psa 17:1-15.
Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
Let my silence come forth from Thy Presence; let Thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
Thou hast proved mine heart; Thou hast visited me in the night;. Thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
Concerning the works of men, by the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O God: incline Thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.
Shew Thy marvellous lovingkindness, O Thou that savest by Thy right hand them which put their trust in Thee from those that rise up against them.
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of Thy wings.
From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;
Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is Thy sword:
From men which are Thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly Thou fillest with Thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall he satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness (Psa 16:9-17:15)
THE GRATEFUL MAN
He affirms his personal affection.
I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my Strength, in whom I will trust; my Buckler, and the Horn of my salvation, and my high Tower.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to he praised: so shall I he saved from mine enemies (Psa 18:1-3),
He rehearses his wondrous salvation.
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth.
There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under His feet.
And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, He did fly upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness His secret place; His pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
At the brightness that was before Him His thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave His voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Yea, He sent out His arrows, and scattered them; and He shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at Thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils.
He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.
He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because He delighted in me.
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me (Psa 18:4-20).
He assigns his triumphs to Gods grace.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all His judgments were before me, and I did not put away His statutes before me.
I was also upright before Him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His eyesight.
With the merciful Thou wilt shew Thyself merciful; with an upright man Thou wilt shew Thyself upright;
With the pure Thou wilt shew Thyself pure; and with the froward Thou wilt shew Thyself froward.
For Thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
For Thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
For by Thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
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.
For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God?
It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
He maketh my feet like hinds feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
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.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
For Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the Lord, but He answered them not.
Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
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.
As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
The Lord liveth; and blessed be my Rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.
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.
Therefore will I give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto Thy name.
Great deliverance giveth He to His king; and sheweth mercy to His anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore (Psa 18:21-50).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
INTRODUCTION
This magnificent triumphal hymn was composed by David in celebration of his deliverance from his enemies. But the sublimity of the figures used in it, and the consent of ancient commentators, even Jewish as well as Christian, but, above all, the citations, made from it in the New Testament, evince that the kingdom of Messiah is here pointed at under that of David. It may thus be divided into five parts.
Part I. Consisting of the first three verses, is the proem of the song.
Part II. Celebrates miraculous deliverances from a state of affliction and distress.
Part III. Thanksgiving; five verses, from the twentieth to the twenty-fourth.
Part IV. Celebrates success in war; eighteen verses, from the twenty-fifth to the forty-second.
Part V. The establishment of Messiahs kingdom; eight verses, from the forty-third to the fiftieth.Bishop Mant.
TRUE LOVE
(Psa. 18:1.)
This verse gives a picture of the human heart in its sublimest mood. It is an eloquent expression of the loftiest affection. The love of the Psalmist was true, because,
I. The object of it was right. I will love Thee. Not, nature. Some expend the whole fund of their admiration and delight on the works of God. They admire creation, idealise it, idolise it. They give a fanciful life to sun and moon and stars, to the firmament, to the earth, and then worship them. This love inspires our naturalistic, pantheistic poetrya poetry sadly popular. Not, humanity. We see many lavish their affection on their friends, and a certain philosophy tells us that the noblest object of love is the human race. We see J. S. Mill in England, and Comte in France, denying the love of God, and then adoring in the most extravagant fashion a couple of women. We may easily fall into the same mistakeloving the creature more than the Creator. There is, indeed, no sin in loving, in fervently loving, such of our fellows as may appear in our eyes to be beautiful or noble; but that our love should be confined to these is the fault of faults. Not, self. How common is self-idolatry! To be wholly occupied with our own interestsever burning incense to our own greatness! How many are their own divinities, living to glorify, to serve, to worship themselves! Not, the world. The Apostle says that the love of the world is enmity with God. What is this love of the world which is opposed to the love of the Father? The setting of our affections on the gifts of Godwealth, rank, honours, learning. There are many such. They are lovers of pleasure, fortune, fame, more than lovers of God. They forget, or almost forget, the Giver in the gift. God is true object of love.
1. He should be the first object. The Psalmist begins with extolling God. The first verse of every chapter in our life should be: I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.
2. He is the worthy object. To love creation, or its gifts, is to love what is dead. Love is only worthily placed on a living person. To love the creatures, is to love what is imperfect: when we love any person, we love not so much the actual person, but rather an ideal person. Their merits, their charms, exist to a large extent in our imagination. But God is the all-perfect One; all perfections exist actually and absolutely in Him.
3. He is the chief object. Thee only Thee; all other creatures or things in Thee. Nothing must we love above God, or so much as God, much less against God.Trapp.
II. The measure of it was right.
1. It was a boundless love. The just measure of love to God is a measureless love. I will love Thee. The word signifies to love with the greatest intensity.Phillips. Affectionately do I love Thee.Moll. Fervently do I love Thee, O Jehovah, my strength.Perowne. The Psalmist loved God from the depths of his heart; loved Him with a burning, boundless affection. As one has said: Every river does the most good whilst it keeps within its banks, except the Nile, and that does the most good when it overflows its banks; so each human passion is best kept within bounds; except love to God, and that is best when it overflows, when it is shed abroad.
2. It was an everlasting love. It overflowed both space and time. The future form, I will love, represents it as a permanent affection, and expresses a fixed purpose. I not only love Thee now, but am resolved to do so for ever.Alexander. Nothing shall separate me from the love of God, &c.
What though my flesh and heart decay,
Thee shall I love in endless day!
III. The inspiration of it was right.
O Lord, my strength. The Psalmists heart was touched by the love of God. The simple form of the verb is here used to denote the reciprocal affection of the inferior party.Alexander. He had felt Gods love to himself, and in return He loved God. We love Him because He first loved us. A true love to God is something more than a mere intellectual admiration, something more than a moral appreciation; it is the offspring of a consciously, indebted, and deeply-moved heart. The idea of the mystics, that we must love God simply for His own sake, is not scriptural. We love much because much has been forgiven us; because great gifts have been imparted to us; because great deliverances have been wrought out for us.
Rememberthe love of God is the secret of strength and victory. The love of God gives us the victory over all inward foes. Great is the purifying power of this sublime affection. Faith which worketh by love, and purifies the heart. The love of God gives us the victory over all outward foes (Rom. 8:35-39). So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might (Jdg. 5:31).
DIVINE SALVATION
(Psa. 18:2-3.)
We observe:
I. The Psalmists confession (Psa. 18:2).
He acknowledges,
1. That God was his deliverer. Jehovah is my stronghold, &c. My God is my strength, &c. The Psalmist does not impute his deliverance from Saul and his other enemies, to his own prowess, or to secondary causes; God was his help. There was a power of supernatural faith in David lifting him above the temptation to idealise and deify aspects of nature. The rocks and fortresses and strongholds of the country, where many of Davids exploits were performed, might have led a less devout mind to forget God, and ascribe its triumphs to its own prowess, combined with geographical advantages. Not so with David. His faith penetrated secondary causes, and visible helps and agencies only became the symbols of the invisible. Jehovah is my stronghold, &c. Let us give the glory of our deliverances to Godnot to self, or nature, or chance. Let us give all the glory to God. Not a word here about geographical help, or human help, or self-help. If we thus honour God, God shall honour our faith, and save us in all natural and spiritual perils.
2. God was his perfect deliverer. Seven is the number of perfection; and here we have according to the reading of Perowne seven metaphors crowded together setting forth the perfection of God as the Saviour of His people. Jehovah (is) my stronghold and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God is my rock wherein I find refuge, my shield and horn of my salvation, my high tower. God is a perfect Saviour. Rock; shield; horn; indicate various forms of defence and shelter, of immunity and deliverance.
(1.) God preserves His people in the day of evil. He is a garrison to them in the time of trial and temptation. Talk of the seven wonders of the world! what are they but imperfect images of the magnificent bulwarks which God raises about His people?
On every aide He stands,
And for His Israel cares;
And safe in His Almighty hands
Their souls for ever bears.
(2.) God delivers His people from the power of evil. He is more than a defender, He is a deliverer. He causes our foes to raise the siege, and leave us unharassed and unharmed.
(3.) God causes His people to triumph over the enemies by whom they have been menaced. The horn of my salvation. As the shield stands for a weapon of defence, so the horn stands for a weapon of offence. The horn is a symbol of strength in attack.Perowne. God not only shelters and delivers His people, but He enables them to carry the war into the enemies, camp, and to reap glorious spoils in the battle. God not only saves His people, but Satan is bruised under their feet; He not only delivers His Church from the wrath of men and devils, but strengthens it to overthrow the kingdom of darkness.
3. God was his personal deliverer. My rock, my fortress, my deliverer. The tried saint feels that he has a personal and peculiar interest in God. Gods manifestations of help and power are so rich and multiform in their character that they carry a separate secret for every separate heart. Just as there were rocks and strongholds about Bethlehem and Engedi that Davids eye had marked for many a year, and that his own foot only knew how to climb; so there are forms of Divine help and blessing, as many and as varied as Gods relations to individual souls, and the secret paths to the attainment of which lie within our individual faith. Let us not be afraid of tribulation, for it unites us all the more intensely with God. Peril deepens experience and individualises the relations in which we stand to God. But for the years of danger in which his youth had been spent, the Psalmist would never have been able to realise all that power of intense, believing, personal appropriation, signified by the use of the possessive pronoun, My strength: My fortress: My God.
We observe:
II. The Psalmists resolution (Psa. 18:3). I will call upon the Lord, &c. Having shown that the Lord is worthy to be praised and trusted, how natural it is that this resolution should follow! And yet, how often is it the case that we acknowledge the glorious perfections of our God in our lips, and yet do not follow up the acknowledgment with a hearty practical confidence! Call upon the Lord for help, and you praise Him in so doing; call upon the Lord, so shall you be saved from your enemies. Some say that children, weak in every other respect, have such strong voices that they may be able to cry aloud, and thus secure help in times of danger; the children of God, weak and helpless amid foes and perils, have a cry to pierce the heavens and bring down help. Cry! cry aloud! and God shall save.
DE PROFUNDIS
(Psa. 18:4-19.)
Consider:
I. The Psalmists peril (Psa. 18:4-5).
The sorrows of death (Psa. 18:4). According to the reading of 2Sa. 22:5, the breakers of death. The metaphor is taken from those dangerous waves which our mariners cull whitebreakers.Horsley. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.Perowne. The reference is here to wicked men, whose number and violence are indicated by the figure of torrents and overflowing streams.Alexander. The sorrows of hell, &c. (Psa. 18:5). The bands of the grave, the snares of death. By bands we are probably to understand the cordage of a net, such as fowlers spread for birds.Alexander. Death is represented as a hunter with a cord and net.Delitzsch. Whichever way the Psalmist turns there is dreadful danger. Thus are we found in our sinful estate. We are in the power of evil. Sin as a torrent carries us away; the devil has entangled us in the meshes of his net; there seems no way of escape from the second death. When our eyes are opened to our true situation we are overwhelmed with horror. Thus do we sometimes find ourselves in days of trouble and persecution. We are compassed about with sorrow and darkness. There seems to be no way of escape.
II. The Psalmists prayer (Psa. 18:6).
1. Its fervency. Called. Cried.
2. Its singleness. I called upon Jehovah; i.e., when I am in trouble I call on Jehovah only, and make my supplication to no other deliverer.Phillips.
3. Its efficacy. He heard my voice out of His temple, &c. Not the temple, or tabernacle, on Mount Zion, but the temple in heaven, where in God especially manifests His glory, and where He is worshipped by the heavenly hostsa place which is both temple and palace.Perowne. What wonderful tenderness and oversight are suggested by the answer that met the Psalmists cry! The temple full of music, but the cry of distress carries as far as the angelic symphonies, and reaches an all-sensitive ear; the temple full of radiance and glory and beauty, but away amidst the gloom of the under-world a Divine eye sees the prostrate and struggling form of a servant of God; God hears the cry out of His very temple, and leaves the very temple, as described in the subsequent verses, for the help and deliverance of His servant. The celestial world is a world full of glory, music, and joy; and yet, it is quick to sympathise with a world of want and sorrow. Do not restrain prayer because of heavens distance; not because of its magnificence; not because of its sanctity, for it is a temple, a place of mercy and reconciliation.
III. The Psalmists preservation (Psa. 18:7-19). It is true we find no express record of any incident in Davids life of the kind recorded in 1Sa. 7:10, but it must be some real experience, which David here idealises.Delitzsch.
Observe:
1. The power of the Divine Helper (Psa. 18:7-9). The earth shook and trembled, &c. Whilst God was a rock and refuge to David, He was a power that rocked the very mountains, to say nothing of the frail fortresses of the Psalmists foes. God is a wall of fire to His people, but a consuming fire to His enemies.
2. The swiftness of the Divine Helper (Psa. 18:10). He rode upon a cherub, and did fly, &c. He is a present help in the time of trouble.
Ere we can offer our complaints,
Behold him present with his aid.
3. The mystery of the methods of the Divine aid (Psa. 18:11). He made darkness His veil.Moll. The word rendered secret placemeans properly a hiding.Barnes. In strange ways God saves His people. Be patient and believing.
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform, &c.
As the 12th verse intimates, it is not all obscurity. At the brightness that was before Him the thick clouds were scattered. There were out-gleams. So if we keep our eye on the Divine government we shall often get glimpses of the light and love by which it is pervaded.
4. The efficacy of the Divine aid (Psa. 18:13-18). Gods power utterly discomfited the foes of His people. In the 7th verse the earth shook and trembled, the foundations also of the hills moved; in the 13th verse the heavens shake, and pour down hailstones and fire. No wonder that the wicked were scattered in dire confusion. Let us not forget that this glorious power is pledged to the weakest saint. Our enemies may be too strong for us, but they are not too strong for Him.
5. The fulness of the Divine deliverance (Psa. 18:19). Gods help never stops at the mere point of deliverance. Gods power never comes down to help us out of our perils only; it comes to bring us to better things than we had known heretofore.
NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL
(Psa. 18:7-19.)
The Psalmist does something more here than idealise nature, we think that he suggests some important thoughts concerning the relation of nature to the supernatural. Dr. Farrar in his Chapters on Language observes: What Mr. Ruskin has called the pathetic fallacy, is the indomitable desire to see in nature, or at least to attribute to her, a sympathy in our joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. Hence, to the imagination of the Psalmist and prophet, the hills clap their hands; the valleys sing; the morning stars shout for joy; the fir-trees howl, &c., &c. In modern poets the same fancy recurs with constant intensity, so that there is hardly a single aspect of nature which has not been made to express or to interpret the thoughts and passions of mankind, and hardly a single modern poem which does not illustrate this imaginative power, p. 214. But there is something far deeper than this in the relation of Gods people to nature; they not only see their experience mirrored in nature, but have the assurance that nature sympathises with them, and ministers to them in a far more profound sense. In that portion of the psalm which is now before us, we see:
I. Nature as obedient to supernatural power. We see God moving heaven and earth. All forces doing His biddingthe wind, the clouds, the lightning, the thunder, the mountains, the sea. The Psalmist in this song may have idealised some of his experiences, but his idealisation assumes the obedience of nature to the will of God. The Scriptures constantly teach this. The Old Testament is full of it, and the New. Reason sanctions it. It is so natural to think of the world being plastic to the will of God, that when men cease to believe in God being able to modify nature they soon cease to believe in Him at all. Experience confirms it. There are few good men but who are firmly persuaded that God has interfered with the natural order on their behalf. Science can prove nothing to the contrary. Science not only tells us of the invariability of law, but she tells us with equal emphasis of the modificability of law; and if the human will can modify natural law, who shall set the limits of the Divine interference with the natural order!
We see:
II. Nature as the executant of a supernatural will. We see in this psalm nature as an executant of the Divine anger. How all the forces of nature are here arrayed against the wicked! Nature is Gods minister to execute wrath upon them that do evil. It seems sometimes as if nature were against God, and for sin and sinners; but if we look further down we shall see that nature is on the side of God and righteousness. Let the wicked remember that the visible universe is Gods vast arsenal, and when once He is angry He can turn all the bright and beautiful things of nature into the swift ministers of death and ruin. We see nature also as an executant of the Divine grace. There is a dark side of nature for the enemies of Godthere is a bright side for the friends of God. All this storm and earthquake was in mercy to David. Child of God, know nature to be thy friend! We are too apt to look upon nature as rigid and inexorable, and in no way sensitive to the generous will of Heaven. In our fear and suffering we look out upon nature and think how reckless she is of our sorrowful moods; we aggravate our sufferings by deeming nature unsympathetic, as we should aggravate them by encountering the face of a foe. Remember, if your purposes and life are only in perfect accord with God, God is always with you to aid, and the colossal and apparently immobile forces of nature are fluttering like threads of gossamer in delicate sympathy with all His manifestations of care and help and succour for you.
We see:
III. Nature ministering to supernatural purpose. Not to material, but to moral and spiritual ends. Remember the higher ministry of nature. Nature is really but a mass of means which God uses for the salvation and sanctification of His creatures. Heathen fables tell us of nature being affected by great military and political events, but Gods Word shows us nature ministering to great moral and religious ends, and this is well worthy of credence. The inferior universe serves the higher universe. We may well believe that the sun was darkened at mans redemption; that natural law and phenomena are controlled with a view to mans moral education; that ordinary laws and processes are disturbed to secure mans immortal salvation.
THE BOW IN THE CLOUD
(Psa. 18:16-20.)
The Psalmist in the preceding verses has shown us the earth rent by earthquakes and the heavens blackened by thunder-clouds, here we see the rainbow span the horrible tempestGods pity and aid to His afflicted servant. The rainbow has various colours, and there are several aspects of Gods government towards His afflicted people shining out brightly in this paragraph.
Notice:
I. The supremacy of Gods government. He sent from above (Psa. 18:16). All was shaken on the earth, all eclipsed in the sky, but above the firmament God sits in perfect repose. Above all the storms and revolutions of earth God reigns, and reigns with undisturbed sovereignty. It is a mighty comfort to the believer to be able to cry, amid wars and tumults and eclipses: Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Oh! that the people of God would look in dark days in the right direction! He sent from above. We look to society, or to self; to history, to posterity; to earth beneath us, to the world around us; we look anywhere instead of looking up. Await salvation from above. In our dark days the door of hope is a door which opens into heaven; let us knock at that door, and wait the help which is never denied. God being enthroned on high, and dwelling in the heavens, does not separate Him from His servants on earth; it merely exhibits Him in His exaltation above all the powers of the world and the abyss; it no more prevents Him from hearing the sighs and supplications of the oppressed, than from making known His presence, to help in gracious condescension to the needs of men.Moll.
II. The discriminativeness of Gods action. He took me, He drew me out of many waters (Psa. 18:16). The frightful storm which has just been pictured sweeping the world seems as if it would involve the guilty and the innocent in one common ruin, but we are reminded that it is not so. In the midst of these appalling displays the Psalmist was safe. The Hand that was hurling lightnings and hailstones and coals of fire, was outstretched in the gentle task of helping the imperilled good. When human authority seeks to punish, it is frequently undistinguishing, and strikes the innocent with the guilty. And it often seems as if the Divine authority were equally undistinguishing. The great laws which govern nature, society, and human life, seem blind and indiscriminating; but let us be sure that it is not so. The Lord knoweth them that are His, Fear God, and serve Him with all your heart, and you shall know that there is a law which discerns between the evil and the good. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee (Psa. 91:5-8).
III. The tenderness of Gods methods. He drew me out of many waters. There is peculiar beauty in the word translated draw, which is the root of the name Moses, and occurs, besides the place before us, only in the explanation of that name recorded by Himself (Exo. 2:10).Alexander. In this psalm God is seen surrounded by awful terrors, but yet He deals with His servant in great gentleness. He has thunder, lightning, hailstones, for His foesmusic, sunbeams, dewdrops, for His people. He drew me. Softly, tenderly, does God withdraw His servants from scenes of peril.
IV. The effectiveness of Gods aid (Psa. 18:17-18). The Psalmist was no match for his foes. They were strong, and they took advantage of his weakness. They fell upon me in the day of my calamity.Moll. And in his various wars David repeatedly sustained partial defeats. But the Lord was his stay. They prevented me in the day of my calamity; i.e., came on me suddenly, unawares, when I was unprovided and helpless, and must have destroyed me had not God upheld and supported me when I was in danger of perishing. God was to the Psalmist for a staff to support him. What the staff is to one that is ready to fall, the means of recovering and preserving him; that was God to David in the time of his extremity.Dr. Chandler quo. by Spurgeon. Our enemies may easily be too much for us, but they cannot prevail against God. Believer! rest in God. Extremity of help will come in extremity of need; and when you are the weakest, God shall glorify Himself the most by working out your uttermost salvation.
V. The bountifulness of Gods grace (Psa. 18:19). He brought me forth to a wide place.Phillips. If we are faithful to God, our temptations and sorrows are ever working out for us a more perfect liberty, a higher being, a greater weight of glory.
THE GREAT SALVATION
(Psa. 18:16.)
There can be little doubt but that David in this place is idealising some of his own experiences; but that eye is very dim which cannot perceive in the Psalmists language something far beyond a description of his own immediate temporal danger and rescue. We have not exhausted the meaning of this magnificent hymn until we have seen in it a foreshadowing of the worlds redemption in Jesus Christ.
Behold:
I. A great danger. What is that danger? A world of Sinners on the brink of hell. The Psalmist pictures himself surrounded by death and hell, and altogether helpless in their grasp. It is a picture of the world, considered apart from the truth and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. The race had fallen under the power of sin, and the whole earth was filled with wickedness and wretchedness. Man could not help himself, could not deliver himself from the tyranny of the devil. And each individual sinner feels that his sins have brought him to the brink of the pit. Floods of ungodliness are sweeping him onward to the ocean of wrath. We are perishing sinners.
Behold:
II. A Divine deliverer. He sent from above. Down in a gulf of dark despair we wretched sinners lay, when Gods eye pitied us, and His right arm brought salvation. There was no help in us. Man has no resource within himself to cope with the great tide of sin and wrath. No help around us. Society cannot save us. No man can redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him. There was no human helper, no angelic helper, and so God Himself becomes our helper. Guilty man was like a broken ship in a storm, no haven in view, no friendly sail bearing down to his relief, no lighthouse star to cheer, no life-boat on the wave, when God marked his signals of distress, and out of the opened heaven sent him a Saviour, even Christ the Lord. He tent from above. He sent His Word. The oracles of God. He sent His Son. May we not say, He came from above! He sent His Spirit. God has come down to the scene of woe, and invites us to make Him our deliverer. Mark ,
1. the strength of this Saviour. He took me. This expresses the strength of His grasp. His right hand doeth valiantly. If our soul is in His hand, who shall tear us out of it? Mark ,
2. the tenderness of this Saviour. He drew me. As humane men bend over one who has been rescued from the river, and apply warmth to the chilly limbs, and chafe the livid hands, and pour cordials into the lips, and keep on hour after hour with their tender ministries, until the closed eyes open, and the pallid cheek is tinged with crimson, and the silent lips break into the music of speech; so Christ bends lovingly over sinners plucked from black depths, and by his longsuffering and tenderness arouses and perfects in them a Divine and immortal life.
Behold:
III. A complete redemption. He drew me out of many waters. He gives us redemption from sin, sorrow, fear, death, hell. Christ is an ark to save the world, and to save us all from many sorrows. Noahs ark floats on the waters, but its door was shut. A thousand eager eyes of drowning men might behold it, a thousand cries might be addressed to it, but it gave no response. For a while, men, women, children might cling to it, only, however, to be washed into the awful gulf. But Christ is an ark, the door of which is wide open, and every sinking despairing soul may enter in and be saved. And as the ark brought Noah in safety to the new earth; so Christ shall bring His people in safety into a large place. He shall land them in heaven.
ULTIMATE REASONS
(Psa. 18:19.)
He delivered me, because He delighted in me.
We inquire:
I. Why God delivers and honours men? Because He delighted in me. Gods regard to man does not spring,
1. From the fact that He could not do without us. He could do without us. We are not necessary to Him. What shall a man profit God?
2. Neither is this regard explained by any claim we might have on God, arising from the fact that He is our Creator. By a thousand wilful transgressions we have forfeited any such claim. One of our writers insists: If a created being has no rights which his Creator is bound to respect, there is an end to all moral relations between them. But who does not feel that through his sin and folly he has lost all rights, and must cast himself upon the mercy of God?
3. Neither does God esteem any man on the ground of any physical or intellectual quality that he may possess. The creatures skill or force, the piercing wit, the active limb, these are all too mean delights for God. Apart from moral excellences they have no charms in His eyes.
4. Neither can this regard be explained on the ground of any arbitrary election. We are not to imagine that God, for some inscrutable reasons, delights in some and rejects others. On what grounds, then, does God delight in men?
(1.) On the ground of faith. This was the position of the Psalmist. In Thee have I trusted. If we honour God with our confidence, He will honour us with His protection. As we trust in God, we make ourselves dear to God; as we trust in Him, we have claims upon Him.
(2.) On the ground of moral character. In Psa. 18:20-27 the Psalmist shows why God delighted in him. According to our moral sincerity and circumspection will God delight in us and bless us. God deals with men according as He sees their hearts to be towards Him. Those who walk before Him in simplicity and uprightness of heart may expect His succour.Perowne. There is nothing arbitrary or partial in God; He will delight in us all, and enrich us with the uttermost salvation, if we trust Him; and prove the sincerity of our faith by our obedience. We observe several
II. Practical lessons suggested by this truth.
1. Let us not perplex ourselves by imagining any favouritism in God. Acceptance with God is on broad grounds, equally open to us all.
2. Let us remember that we cannot recommend ourselves to God on any grounds of nature. We are defaulters, and have lost that moral beauty in which alone God can delight.
3. It is only by believing in Gods grace that we can enjoy that grace.
4. It is only by moral sincerity and earnestness that we can retain that grace
GOOD THINGS FOR GOOD PEOPLE
(Psa. 18:20-27.)
In these verses the Psalmist shows that the love of God for His people is not a blind and unrighteous predilection, but that the just and righteous God loves righteousness. Observe here two great canons of the Divine rule. First:
I. God deals with us as we deal with Him. (Psa. 18:20-25.) The truth, which is here enunciated is, that Gods conduct to man is the reflection of the relation in which man has placed himself to God.Delitzsch. David does not mean in these protestations to lay claim to perfection and sinlessness, but he asserts the sincerity of his desire to please God, and the uprightness of his conduct before God. David here, as in the last psalm, asserts not his freedom from sin, but the consciousness of his own integrity.Perowne. And because he thus sought to recognise God, and glorify HimGod watched over him, and blessed him. The destiny which God prepares for a man is a reflection of the mans personal character. As shadows and echoes represent their originating substances and sounds; so in the discriminating character of Gods judgments there is a complete response to personal character. He who honours God, is honoured by God.
1. Let us remember that we cannot expect Gods help except so far as we are pure in purpose and life.
2. Let us observe the loftiness of the standard of conduct which we must observe if we are to claim Divine patronage. All His judgments were before me (Psa. 18:22). And they were constantly before Him. And I did not put away His statutes from me (Psa. 18:22). We must not pick and choose the statutes, but must observe them all, even those which try as the most; and observe them always, even unto the end. Learn:
II. God deals with us as we deal with one another. (Psa. 18:26.) The Psalmist, in this and following verses, intimates that the plan of Gods providential conduct to men, is to act towards them as they act towards each other. This is an undoubted principle of His moral government, and ought to constitute a strong motive for the exercise of all Christian virtues in the social relations of life.Phillips. Throughout the Word of God this truth is insisted upon. It is recognised in the Lords Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. If we are harsh to our brother, God shall exact from us; if we deceive our brother, God shall permit us to be blinded by strong delusions; if we defraud our brother, God shall spoil us; if we will not forgive our brother, neither shall our heavenly Father forgive us. God stands behind society, and marks our integrity or faithlessness in all the social relations of life, and deals with us accordingly. Whatsoever a man sows, and wheresoever he sows, that shall he reap. Let us, by the grace of God, keep clean hands, and sow golden seeds, and blessed shall the harvest be. Lessons:
1. There can be no salvation except through righteousness. On this ground alone will God bless us on earth; on this ground only admit us to heaven (Rom. 2:6-9).
2. There can be no righteousness except through grace. David does not formally recognise here this fact, but elsewhere he recognises it fully, and here he assumes it. Gods grace originates the lofty righteousness here spoken of. It is a Divine righteousness. Gods grace preserves this righteousness. It keeps us from our iniquity. Gods grace crowns this righteousness. Giving to it vast rewards.
BESETTING SINS
(Psa. 18:23.)
I kept myself from mine iniquity. David certainly means here some particular sin to which he was most prone.
Observe:
I. We are all the subjects of special weaknesses and temptations.
1. Each nation has its besetting sin. Scientific observers tell us that different races of men have different kinds of weeds following in their wake, so that a careful observer can, in travelling, see at once, by merely noticing the prevailing weeds, whether Europeans or Asiatics, Negroes or Indians, have dwelt at certain places. So each nation has its peculiar sin.
2. Each age has its besetting sin. In the history of morals we find bow various vices have prevailed at various times. Now an age of cruelty; now of intemperance; now of superstition; now of scepticism. Has not our own age its besetting sin?
3. Each individual has his besetting sin. John Hunter held that two general diseases cannot co-exist in the same individual. It is somewhat thus with man morally. Usually a man will be under the influence of some one particular passion or temptation. All sins are in us seminally, potentially, sympathetically, but in some one direction we are specially in danger. This may arise from our constitution. As in the natural man, though there be all the faculties, yet some faculties are in some more lively and vigorous than in others, some are more witty, some are more strong, some quick of sight, some have a ready ear, and others a nimble tongue, &c. So it is in the old man also; there is all the power of sin in an unregenerate man, but in some more dexterous one way than another.Strong quo. by Spurgeon. Or it may arise from our situation. There are more temptations to some sins than others, from the different professions or courses of life men take upon themselves. If they follow the court, I need not tell you what temptations and snares there are to divers sins, and what danger there is of falling into them. If they be listed in the camp, that tempts them to rapine and violence, neglect of Gods worship, and profaneness. If they exercise trading and merchandise, they meet with greater enticements to lying and cozening, over-reaching and unjust dealing; and the mystery of some trades, as had men manage them, is a downright mystery of iniquity. If husbandry, to anxiety about the things of the world, a distrust of Gods providence, or murmuring against it. Nay, I could wish in the most sacred profession of all there might be an exception made in this particular; but Paul tells us that even in his days some preached Christ even of envy and strife, some for filthy lucre only, as well as some of good will.Dove quo. by Spurgeon.
We proceed:
II. To make several observations touching this particular class of sins.
1. These besetting sins are to be conquered. We are sometimes ready to apologise for these sins. We are ready to regard them as hereditary, incurable. The Scriptures do not regard any taint of blood as ineradicable, any passion as invincible, any temptation as insurmountable. The Old Testament says, I kept myself from mine iniquity. The New Testament says, Lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets you. To say that religion will not strengthen us to master the easily besetting sin, is to say that it fails where, and when, we need salvation most
2. In the subduing of our besetting sin lies the great struggle of life. Our love to God, our allegiance to Him, is tested, not by ten commandments, but rather by one or two of them. The question of our moral character is fought out on some one question. If we conquer here, we conquer along the whole line; if we fail here, guilty in one point we are guilty in all. The great battle with the Philistine host is decided by single combat. Smiting this single sin the day is ours, we put to flight the army of the aliens. This sin beneath our feet, and the crown is on our head.
3. We must estimate our character according to our relation to the besetting sin. We sometimes flatteringly estimate our character by reckoning up the sins to which we have no inclination. This is a fatal miscalculation. Is it not a maxim in mechanics, that a thing is no stronger than its weakest part? This is as true in morals as in mechanics. When we seek to estimate our character let us ask, how do we stand in regard to our weak points? Are we gaining, or losing ground there? Never mind the strong points. If we perpetually fail in one point let us remember that that is the true index to our character, and that a score of untried virtues will not atone for the one virtue which fails whenever it is put into the fire.
Observe finally:
The discipline by which the easily besetting sin is to be subdued.
1. We must seek the grace of God. It is impossible for us to cast aside these sins in our own strength. We must look unto Jesus. We are to be made perfect by looking at Him, the perfection of beauty, and ever claiming His power and grace.
2. We must exert ourselves. I kept myself from mine iniquity. God, indeed, in our first conversion works upon us as He did upon the earth, or Adams body in paradise, before He breathed a soul into it and made it a living creature; such a power as Christ put forth on Lazarus in his grave, for we are dead in trespasses and sins; but yet being living he must walk and act of himself, the Lord will have us to co-operate together with Him, for we are built upon Christ, not as dead, but as living stones.Strong quo. by Spurgeon.
THE LIGHT OF LIFE
(Psa. 18:28.)
Here the Psalmist recognizes God as,
I. The source of his Light. For Thou givest light to my lamp; Jehovah, my God, maketh my darkness to be bright.Perowne. In 2Sa. 22:29, Thou, O Jehovah, art my lamp. In days of deep perplexity, in the presence of painful problems, God was his counsellor. Blessed are those who seek light in God! Take your candles to Him, and He shall light them with a shining lustre. Take your understanding to Him, and He shall make it to shed pure illuminations; take your heart to Him, and He shall make it burn with heavenly brightness. Light your candles at the radiant luminary of the Spirit, the Word, the Throne.
II. The source of his joy. Light is often in Scripture expressive of joy or comfort, for truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun (Ecc. 11:7; Psa. 97:11; Psa. 92:4). By a natural opposition, as light is expressive of joy and comfort; so is darkness, of sorrow and misery. The Psalmist, however, speaks in this place of artificial light, a candle or lamp; which has been supposed to be illustrated by the custom prevailing in Egypt, of never suffering their houses to be without lights, but burning lamps even through the night, so that the poorest people would rather retrench part of their food than neglect it.Bishop Mant. The lamps lighted in the house is the image at once of prosperity and continuance of life and happiness.Perowne. Amid the darkness which everywhere presses upon us, God is the lamp of His people, the source of their comfort and gladness. A lamp or candle in the house is a common Hebrew figure for prosperity, and its extinction for distress. See Job. 18:5-6; Job. 21:17; Pro. 24:20.Alexander. And when God deserts a man, all the light of life is gone.
III. The source of his glory. David himself was called the lamp of Israel (1Ki. 11:36, &c.) He was its light and its glory. And God was Davids light and glory. Davids life and dominion, as the covenant king, is the lamp which Gods favour has lighted for the well-being of Israel, and His power will not allow this lamp (2Sa. 21:17) to be quenched.Delitzsch. Blessed are all those who find in God their life and glory. They want nothing more. He fills them with joy; He crowns them with beauty and glory.
1. God is a full Light. All other lights are partial and dim. He is a Sun; He giveth grace and glory, &c. Fulness of light, felicity, honour, in fellowship with Him. He is everything. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory (Isa. 60:19).
2. God is a true Light. Nothing but the pure white light. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. The light He imparts never leads astray; the joy He gives has no sorrow added to it; the honour and glory He gives to His children has no abatement or stain, they are altogether kings.
3. God is a safe Light. Nothing can extinguish the central orb. And if we put our trust in God, if we draw the supplies of life from Him, nothing can extinguish our joy and hope. We see how Davids life and joy and glory were often threatened with total extinction, but the hand of God preserved him, the very darkness of death was lit again into day.
4. God is an everlasting light. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended (Isa. 60:20).
FULL CONQUEST
(Psa. 18:29-34.)
In these verses we have the Psalmist exulting as more than a conqueror.
Observe:
I. The fulness of his victory (Psa. 18:29).
1. He has vanquished a host of enemies. A troop.
2. He has utterly vanquished them. Through a troop. Divided them, broken them up, scattered them.
3. He has done it easily. I have run through a troop. I leaped over a wall. He did not secretly undermine it, or painfully batter it, or just succeed in scaling it, he leaped over it. All enemies, all obstructions, have been triumphantly vanquished.
II. The source of his victory (Psa. 18:29-34). By thee (Psa. 18:29). In thee, and in my God, i.e., in intimate union with Him and possession of Him, a much stronger sense than that of mere assistance (by thee), which, however, is included.Alexander.
1. The Psalmist trusted in God. He identified himself with God (Psa. 18:30). He entertained a lofty sense of Gods truth, and faithfulness, and power.
2. The Psalmist trusted in God alone (Psa. 18:31). God is a rock, a ground of confidence that cannot be shaken, and God alone is such a rock. And
3. God gave him the victory. God does all (Psa. 18:32). Perfect, i.e., absolutely smooth, free from stumblings and errors, leading straight forward to a divine goal.Delitzsch. Strength in both its beginning and continuance is of God. He girds with strength at the outset and maketh the whole way perfect (Psa. 18:33). God establishes his feet. Enables him to stand where it seemed impossible to find footing; to scale heights which seemed utterly impracticable (Psa. 18:34). God gave him wisdom and prowess to defeat his foes. It is not the bow of brass which has been Davids protection, but Jehovahs shield covered him; Jehovahs right hand held him up; Jehovahs wonderful condescension made him great; Jehovah made room for him to stand, and subdue those that rose up against him.Perowne.
Lessons:
1. We shall gain the victory of life by allying ourselves with God. All life is a warfare to us, as it was to David; and we shall achieve the victory only in Divine strength. In the natural world we see how feeble men are whilst they use only their own strength, their own eyes, hands, feet. It is when they learn how to avail themselves of Gods power that they accomplish marvels. The human hand is feeble, but it uses Gods power, and the dynamite rends asunder the rocks, the steam drives the mighty ship or thundering wheels of mills, the electric spark tells our wishes on the other side of the world. We are slow, feeble, local, considered in ourselves; but when science has taught us to avail ourselves of Gods power, we dare winds and seas and mountains. So in the moral world. We are feeble indeed in ourselves, we cannot do the things that we would; but when we listen to revelation, and by thought, and faith, and prayer, lay hold of Gods strength, we can do all things.
2. If we ally ourselves with Gods strength, the victory of life shall be most complete and brilliant. We shall more than prevail. The high places of Christian experience shall be reached; the high places of the world, the most difficult undertakings of Christian zeal, shall be proudly compassed; the high places of Christian hope shall be climbed, and we shall shout the song of victory on those tablelands, of which God Himself is sun and moon.
GODS SHIELD
(Psa. 18:35.)
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation.
This shield indicates:
I. The availableness of Gods help. The fortress can only shelter within its precincts, but the shield is with the warrior wherever he may go. Whatever may be our lot, however singular and exposed, God is with us to uphold and save. You may have to leave the fortress of a sweet pure home, and go into the midst of gay and worldly society, the shield goes with you; you may have to leave the fortress of a moral neighbourhood, to dwell amid the tents of wickedness, the shield goes with you; you are compelled to leave the fortress of a Christian Church and dwell where you are cut off from Christian privileges and fellowship, the shield goes with you; you are compelled to leave the fortress of a Christian country to dwell in heathenish lauds, the shield goes with you. In all places you may realise Gods aid. Your shield is ever with you.
This shield indicates:
II. The many-sidedness of Gods protecting love. The great round shield preserves the warrior from top to toe. So the loving hand of God shelters our whole personality, and all our interests. Be sure that Satan would seek to wound us in the eye, to darken our understanding; in the heart, to make us faint; in the knee, to injure our devoutness; but Gods protecting love shelters us altogether. Our happiness, character, circumstances; in life, in death, in eternity.
The shield indicates:
III. The invincibility of Gods strength. It is the shield of salvation. Whoever places himself in the hands of God is safe. If we meet evil in our own strength we shall be overcome, but confide in this Divine armour, and you come out of lifes battle without a scratch. Does Satan tempt you to error? Confront him as the Saviour did, with Gods Word; let His truth be thy shield and buckler. Are you tempted to sin? Be strong in the truth, and love, and righteousness of God, inwrought by the Holy Spirit into your soul. This shield quenches every fiery dart.
Lessons:
1. Let the believer who has triumphed in lifes battles give glory to his Shield. David had escaped the insidious temptation to self-glory, and all his own strength and prowess he humbly ascribed to God. Let us remember that God helps us, not only outwardly by His providence, but inwardly also by a thousand untracked influences, therefore all the praise is His.
2. Let the believer ever hold fast that Shield. Never be without it. Ever living in close communion with God. Never have it to look for.
3. Let those who have been worsted in lifes conflicts learn to put their trust in God. Baffled, wounded, humbled, turn from your poor broken self to the immortal love and strength of a Divine Saviour.
O send me not away! for I would drink,
Een I, the weakest, at the fount of life;
Chide not my steps, that venture near the brink,
Weary and fainting from the deadly strife.
Went I not forth undaunted and alone,
Strong in the majesty of human might?
Lo! I return, all wounded and forlorn,
My dream of glory lost in shades of night.
Was I not guided for the battle-field?
Bore! not helm of pride and glittering sword!
Behold the fragments of my broken shield,
And lend to me thy heavenly armour, Lord!
DIVINE GENTLENESS
(Psa. 18:35.)
Thy gentleness hath made me great.
Notice:
I. The greatness of the good. Hath made me great. David was great politically, intellectually, but this greatness must be understood as moral. The Psalmist humbly, but exultingly, recognises the fact that the grace of God had ennobled his nature, crowned him with spiritual glory and honour. The end of religion is to make men great. And moral greatness is true greatness. It alone excites true admiration; makes its possessor happy; it alone abides.
Notice:
II. The gracious discipline through which this greatness is realised. Thy gentleness hath made me great. We are discrowned kings, and through gentleness God seeks to put the diadem on our head again. Many believe only in force and terror as restorative factors, but if we look around we see on every side the triumphs of gentleness. It is so in nature. Power, amazing power is on every hand, yet acting most softly; and because it acts so softly filling the landscapes with beauty and fruitfulness. Thus it is in art. Gentleness is everything. And this it is in society. In the physician, the parent, the tutor, you see the grand results of gentleness. God, the most powerful Being in the universe, is also the most gentle, and through gentleness seeks to raise his fallen children to true and lasting greatness.
Mark this first:
1. In Gods dealing with us in our sinful state. The aspect of God to a guilty world is altogether kind and inviting. The aspect of the Divine Providence. He maketh his sun, &c. Of the Divine Truth. Great and gracious promises to sinners are on every page of Gods Word. Of the Divine Spirit. The spirit of God is ever acting in the dark heart of sinnersseeking to inspire, to soften, to save. Infinite love struggles with human perversity, and so we see our way back again to the skies.
2. Gods dealings with us in our penitential state. Our first approaches to God are usually full of imperfection, and the best penitent needs large indulgence. Our motives imperfect; our methods faulty; our faith feeble. Our tears are not pure; our sackcloth equivocal. God grants us this indulgence. We are often rough with penitents; but at a thousand imperfections God winks, and through this gentleness cheers on the penitent to greater things. A bruised reed, &c.
3. Gods dealings with us in our accepted state. We see this
(1.) In what He accepts from us. Every Christian man has the full and clear conviction that he is never all that he ought to behis actual life is painfully below his ideal life. And yet we have the conviction equally full and clear, that although we, and our works, are far from perfection, yet God accepts us and them; and it is this truth which ever encourages us onwards to loftier attainments and experiences.
(2.) In what He does with us. There is gentleness in all the discipline of life. He does not permit us to be tried above what we are able to bear. Our afflictions may often seem severe, but they are the expression of the Divine pitifulness. Indeed many commentators translate the text: Thy afflictions have made me great, Thy humbling, thy chastening, thy disciplining.Phillips. Even Thine afflicting hand tendeth to make me great.French. Thy loving correction.Prayer Book.
4. Gods dealing with us in our backsliding states. How the Redeemer brought back backsliding Peter to repentance and life! (Isa. 54:7-8.) Sinner, do not despise this gentleness. You will not be driven to heavenwill you be drawn? Believer, economise all the fine influences of life. I will guide thee with mine eye. I will be as the dew unto Israel. Improve all the delicate impulses and attractions of the Divine world which lies about you, and ever acts upon you. Let us pray for greater sensitiveness to the love of God; and just as the silver moon, with its soft charm, draws the ocean waters round the globe, until they have glassed the stars of every sky, and sung their anthems on every shore; so shall the good Spirit of God master the wild elements of our nature, and lead us on, and lead us out, until we have seen all Gods glory, and shown forth all His praise.
THE MORALITY OF PRAYER
(Psa. 18:41.)
I. Prayer must be offered in a right cause.
Prayer offered in a wrong cause can never be availing. In the preceding verses we see Providence helping a righteous cause. The Psalmists relation to God was not a selfish contract for help, as between the heathen and his idolthe Psalmist sympathised with Gods rights and designs. God scatters many prayers in the air, because they are offered in a purely selfish cause. Many prayers also are rejected because offered in a wicked cause. Prayer is so notable a weapon that even the wicked will take to it in their fits of desperation. Bad men have appealed to God against Gods own servants, but all in vain; the kingdom of heaven is not divided, and God never succours his foes at the expense of his friends. There are prayers to God which are no better than blasphemy, which bring no comfortable reply, but rather provoke the Lord to greater wrath.Spurgeon.
II. Prayer must be offered in a right spirit.
1. The spirit of penitence. Sorrow for past sinsbut there was none of that in these heathen. The spirit of repentance is necessary to availing prayer, and if that spirit is wanting, our prayers are abomination. When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well. (Isa. 1:15-16.)
2. The spirit of righteousness. The cry extorted in terror, and not coming from an upright heart (Psa. 18:24, &c.), is not heard. See opposite, Psa. 18:6.Perowne. We must live in the love and practice of goodness. The prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Lifting up holy hands. Remember the morality of prayer, and remember it in your daily doings. You are either building up, or cutting the sinews of your future prayers, by your present conduct. Righteousness is necessary to prayernot as a channel of merit for our prayers up to God, but as a plane of moral possibility in our lives down which Gods answer can come back to us. Let us be severe in the purity of our thought and life, or we shall soon have to utter the lament of the poet:
God sends me back my prayers, as a father
Returns unoped the letters of a son
Who hath dishonoured him.
3. The spirit of confidence. The spirit of these heathen was that of terror and despair. As nature prompteth men in an extremity to look up for help; but because it is but the prayer of the flesh for ease, and not of the spirit for grace, and a good use of calamities, and not but in extreme despair of help elsewhere, therefore God hears them not. In Samuel it is, They looked, but there was none to save them; q.d. If they could have made any other shift, God should never have heard of them.Trapp. Prayer must be the language of confidence.
III. Prayer must be offered at a right time. They cried first to their own gods, and when there was none to answer, then they cried to Israels God. They prayed too late. Men often do. There is an accepted time in which God will hear prayer, and it is our duty not to let that time pass. (Pro. 1:24-33; Joh. 8:21; Luk. 16:24; Rev. 6:16.)
VICTORY FOR CHRIST AND VICTORY IN CHRIST
(Psa. 18:37-50.)
We have here a picture,
I. Of Christs victory over His foes.
This Psalm looks beyond David. David and Davids rule over the nations are but a type and image of Christ, and of that spiritual kingdom which He came to establish.Perowne. We have suggested here,
1. The completeness of Christs victory (Psa. 18:37-42). All Christs enemies are to be put under His feet. And all of them completely under His feet. Many teachers, systems, institutions, which are proud enough now in their opposition to Christ, will be very low before Christ has done with them. The victories of the Church are perpetually stopping at certain points, and complete and permanent triumph seems scarcely ever attained. But let us not be discouraged; Christ shall ride on till the last foe has fallen.
2. The rapidity of Christs march. Up to a certain point David had to fight with varying fortune, but a time came when fighting was no longer necessary; a panic seized the hearts of the foe, and they melted away. Subsequent victories were won by the moral influence of the first victories. May it not be thus with the progress of Messiahs kingdom? Slowly has that kingdom seemed to prevail up to now; but, these preliminary struggles won, may not the triumphs of the Gospel be far more multiplied and swift? Satan shall fall as lightning.
3. The universality of Christs reign (Psa. 18:43; Psa. 18:49). David ruling over Israel and over the heathen tribes, was a foreshadowing of Christ exalted over all the lands. Blessed are all those who submit to Christ. His conquest means freedom and life and glory to all who accept it. Alas! for those who will not have this man to rule over them. Man or multitude, king or kingdom, whatever sets itself against the truth as it is in Jesus, must be broken.
Observe:
II. The saints victory in Christ. We may well see in Davids triumph over his foes a picture of that spiritual triumph which Christ ensures to all his people.
1. Do not be content until all your sins are overcome.
2. Until all your sins are utterly vanquished. Beat them small as the dust before the wind.
3. Until you have destroyed them for ever. Fight, until God crown you king to all eternity.
(1.) Fight in Christ. Be sure of that. See that He girds you, leads you, saves you.
(2.) Put forth all personal effort. David did not leave invisible powers to fight for him, but threw himself also into the fight.
(3.) Give God the glory of every victory (Psa. 18:49-50).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psalms 18
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
Davids Song of Deliverance.
ANALYSIS
Stanza I., Psa. 18:1-6, By many Epithets of Admiration, the Psalmist proclaims Jehovah as Worthy of Praise, for Delivering him from Extreme Danger, in Answer to Prayer. Stanza II., Psa. 18:7-12, a description of the Divine Descent from the Heavenly Temple, for the Purpose of Deliverance. Stanza III., Psa. 18:13-19, Amid a Storm of Thunder and Lightning, the Drowning One is rescued. Stanza IV., Psa. 18:20-27, Principles of Divine Procedure Declared. Stanza V., Psa. 18:28-34, Enumeration of Deeds Done in Divine Strength. Stanza VI., Psa. 18:35-42, More Deedsof Climbing, Pursuing, Destroying, Girding, Defeating and Trampling Underfoot. Stanza VII., Psa. 18:43-50, Deliverance from Feuds at Home, from Foes Abroad, and from Foreigners Infesting the Fastnesses of the Land,made a Theme of Loving Thanks to Jehovah, and a Prophecy of Lasting Prosperity to the Dynasty of David.
(Lm.) By the servant of Jehovah, by David,who spake to Jehovah the words of this Song on the day when Jehovah had rescued him out of the grasp of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul; and he said:
1
I will tenderly[145] love thee Jehovah my strength![146]
[145] FerventlyPer., Dr, For the unusual word here used, see 1Jn. 4:19 and final par. in Exposition.
[146] This line not in 2 Samuel 22, a prob. addition by Hezekiah. (Cp. Thirtle, O.T.P., 123.)
2
Jehovah was my crag and my fastness and
my deliverer, my God my rock in whom I took refuge;
my shield and my horn of salvation my lofty retreat.
My Saviour! from violence[147] didst thou save me.[148]
[147] Perh. originally violent one; cp. Psa. 18:48.
[148] This line adopted from 2 Samuel 22.
3
Worthy to be praised I proclaim Jehovah,
since from my foes I am saved.
4
There encompassed me the breakers[149] of death,
[149] So in 2Sa. 22:5. M.T. here: meshes; but (Br.) It is improbable that the original was so unnecessarily tautological.
the torrents of perdition made me afraid;
5
The meshes of hades surrounded me,
there confronted me the snares of death.
6
In the strait I was in I called on Jehovah,
and unto my God made I outcry for help:
He heard out of his temple my voice,
and mine outcry before him entered into his ears.
7
Then did the earth sway and quake,
and the foundations of the heavens[150] were distrubed,
[150] So 2Sa. 22:8. M.T. here: mountains.
they swayed to and fro because his anger burned:
8
They went up a smoke in his nostrils,
and fire from his mouth devoured,
coals were kindled therefrom.
9
Then bowed he the heavens and came down,
and thick gloom was under his feet:
10
Then rode he on a cherub and flew,
and swooped down on wings of wind;
11
And he put darkness[151] round about him,
[151] M.T. adds: his hiding-place.
a covering of darkness of waters:
12
thick clouds of the sky without brightness,
Before him his cloud-masses rolled along.[152]
[152] M.T. (emended by Ginsburg) adds: There were kindled live coals of fire. Prob. a repetition, in error, of Psa. 18:8 c.
13
Then Jehovah thundered in[153] the heavens,
[153] In some cod. (w. Aram., Sep., Vul.): from. And so 2Sa. 22:14, and Br. here.
yea the Highest gave out his voice;[154]
[154] M.T. adds: Hail and live coals of fire. Not in 2 S.: is a glossBr.
14
And he sent forth his arrows and scattered them,
yea flashes flashed he and made a loud noise[155]
[155] So Br.
15
Then appeared channels of waters,
were uncovered the foundations of the world,(at thy rebuke Jehovah, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils) .[156]
[156] Note change of person; and that stanza too long by two lines.
16
He reached out from on high he laid hold of me, he drew me out of many waters:
17
He rescued me from my foe so mighty,
and from those who hated me because they were too strong for me:
18
They confronted me in my day of distress,
then became Jehovah a stay to me;
19
and brought me forth into a wide place,
He rescued me because he delighted in me.
20
Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands he repaid me
21
Because I had kept the ways of Jehovah,
and not broken loose from my God:
22
Because all his regulations were before me,
and his statutes did I not put from me:
23
So became I blameless with him,
and kept myself from mine iniquity:
24
(So Jehovah returned to me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes)[157]
[157] Prob. a repetition of Psa. 18:20.
25
With the man of kindness thou dost shew thyself kind,
with the blameless man thou dost shew thyself blameless,
26
with the pure thou dost shew thyself pure,
and with the perverse thou dost shew thyself able to contend.[158]
[158] Ml.: tortuous: perh.=able to cope with their perversity.
27
For thou a humbled people didst save,
but looks that were lofty layedst thou low.
28
For thou wast[159] my lamp O Jehovah,
[159] So 2Sa. 22:29.
my God enlightened my darkness;
29
For in thee I brake down a fence,[160]
[160] So Gt.Gn.
and in my God lept I over a wall.
30
As for God blameless is his way,[161]
[161] M.T. adds: The saying (promise) of Jehovah is refined as with fire.
a shield is heto all who take refuge in him
31
For who is a God[162] save Jehovah?
[162] A divine beingDel.
and who is a Rock save our God?
32
The GOD who girded me with strength,
and made blameless my way;
33
Who set my feet like hinds,
and upon high places made me hold my ground;
34
Who taught my hands to war,
and made mine arms bronze.
35
Thus didst thou grant me as a shield thy salvation,
and thy right hand upheld me;
and thy humility made me great.
36
Thou didst broaden my stepping-places under me,
so that mine ankles faltered not.
37
I pursued my foes and overtook them,
and turned not until I had made an end of them;
38
I smote them and they were unable to rise,
they fell under my feet.
39
Thus didst thou gird me with strength for the battle,
thou didst bring down mine assailants[163] under me;
[163] Or: those that rose up against me.
40
As for my foes thou gavest me their neck,
and as for them who hated me I exterminated them:
41
They cried out but there was none to save,
unto Jehovah! but he did not answer them:
42
So I beat them small like the dust of the earth,[164]
[164] So Gt.Gn.
like mire in the lanes I pulverised[165] them.
[165] So. Br.
43
Thou didst deliver me from the strivings of a people,
thou didst set me as head of nations,
a people I had not known served me:
44
At the hearing of the ear they submitted to me
the sons of the foreigner came cringing unto me
45
The sons of the foreigner lost heart,
and trembled forth out of their fastnesses.
46
Living and blessed is my Rock,[166]
[166] M.T.: Jehovah liveth and blessed be my rockDel., Dr.
and exalted is the God of my salvation:
47
The GOD who avenged me,
and subjugated peoples under me:
48
Who delivered me from my foes,
yea from mine assailants[167] didst thou raise me on high,
[167] Or: those rose up against me.
from a man of violence didst thou rescue me.
49
For this cause will I thank thee among the nations Jehovah!
and to thy name will I make melody.
50
Who hath made great the victories[168] of his king,
[168] Or: magnified the great salvation (pl. intensive). Cp. Isa. 26:18; Isa. 33:6.
and wrought kindness for his Anointed
for David and for his seed to the ages.
(Lm.) To the Chief Musician.
PARAPHRASE
Psalms 18
(This song of David was written at a time when the Lord had delivered him from his many enemies, including Saul.)
Lord, how I love You! For You have done such tremendous things for me.
2 The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me. He is a rugged mountain where I hide; He is my Savior, a rock where none can reach me, and a tower of safety. He is my shield. He is like the strong horn of a mighty fighting bull.
3 All I need to do is cry to Himoh, praise the Lordand I am saved from all my enemies!
4 Death bound me with chains, and the floods of ungodliness mounted a massive attack against me.
5 Trapped and helpless, I struggled against the ropes that drew me on to death.
6 In my distress I screamed to the Lord for His help. And He heard me from heaven,[169] my cry reached His ears.
[169] Literally, out of His temple.
7 Then the earth rocked and reeled, and mountains shook and trembled. How they quaked! For He was angry.
8 Fierce flames leaped from His mouth, setting fire to the earth;[170] smoke blew from His nostrils.
[170] Literally, coals were kindled by it.
9 He bent the heavens down and came to my defense;[171] thick darkness was beneath His feet.
[171] Implied.
10 Mounted on the cherubim[172] He sped swiftly to my aid with wings of wind.
[172] Literally, a cherub.
11 He enshrouded Himself with darkness, veiling His approach with dense clouds dark as murky waters.
12 Suddenly the brilliance of His presence broke through the clouds with lightning[173] and a mighty storm of hail.
[173] Literally, coals of fire.
13 The Lord thundered in the heavens; the God above all gods has spokenoh, the hailstones; oh, the fire!
14 He flashed His fearful arrows of lightning and routed all my enemies. See how they run!
15 Then at Your command, O Lord, the sea receded from the shore. At the blast of Your breath the depths were laid bare.
16 He reached down from heaven and took me and drew me out of my great trials. He rescued me from deep waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated meI who was helpless in their hands.
18 On the day when I was weakest, they attacked. But the Lord held me steady.
19 He led me to a place of safety, for He delights in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me for doing right and being pure.
21 For I have followed His commands and have not sinned by turning back from following Him.
22 I kept close watch on all His laws; I did not refuse a single one.
23 I did my best to keep them all, holding myself back from doing wrong.
24 And so the Lord has paid me with His blessings, for I have done what is right, and I am pure of heart. This He knows, for He watches my every step.
25 Lord, how merciful You are to those who are merciful. And You do not punish those who run from evil.[174]
[174] Literally, with the upright You show Yourself upright.
26 You give blessings to the pure but pain to those who leave Your paths.
27 You deliver the humble but condemn the proud and haughty ones.
28 You have turned on my light! The Lord my God has made my darkness turn to light.
29 Now in Your strength I can scale any wall, attack any troop.
30 What a God He is! How perfect in every way! All His promises prove true. He is a shield for everyone who hides behind Him.
31 For who is God except our Lord? Who but He is as a rock?
32 He fills me with strength and protects me wherever I go.
33 He gives me the surefootedness of a mountain goat upon the crags. He leads me safely along the top of the cliffs.
34 He prepares me for battle and gives me strength to draw an iron[175] bow!
[175] Literally, a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me Your salvation as my shield. Your right hand, O Lord, supports me; Your gentleness has made me great.
36 You have made wide steps beneath my feet so that I need never slip.
37 I chased my enemies; I caught up with them and did not turn back until all were conquered.
38 I pinned them to the ground; all were helpless before me. I placed my feet upon their necks!
39 For You have armed me with strong armor for the battle. My enemies quail before me and fall defeated at my feet.
40 You made them turn and run; I destroyed all who hated me.
41 They shouted for help but no one dared to rescue them; they cried to the Lord, but He refused to answer them.
42 So I crushed them fine as dust and cast them to the wind. I threw them away like sweepings from the floor.
43, 44, 45 You gave me victory in every battle! The nations came and served me.
Even those I didnt know before come now and bow before me. Foreigners who have never seen me submit instantly. They come trembling from their strongholds.
46 God is alive! Praise Him who is the great rock of protection.
47 He is the God who pays back those who harm me and subdues the nations before me.
48 He rescues me from my enemies; He holds me safely out of their reach and saves me from these powerful opponents.
49 For this, O Lord, I will praise You among the nations.
50 Many times You have miraculously rescued me, the king You appointed. You have been loving and kind to me and will be to my descendants.
EXPOSITION
It is important to remember that David inherited the unfinished task of Joshua, whose divine commission wasto extirpate the Canaanite nations whose abominable iniquities had justly called down on them this awful doom. Unless this is borne in mind, the Royal Singer of Israel must appear to the Christian mind, especially in this his triumphal ode, as resting under a cloud of suspicion that he did not hate war as he should: seeing that when his wars were ended, he could, with such manifest satisfaction, celebrate the completeness of his victories. It is doubtless well that we should recoil from the terrible necessity for extermination, and realise the extent to which another spirit has fallen on us from our suffering and rejected Messiah; but it is not altogether well when we, for want of reflection, fail to mark the footsteps of God in history; and thus are led to blame an ancient hero whom we ought rather to praise. Whatever of courageous and skillful warrior David was, that had he become under divine training; and we have to beware lest we blame that training rather than the Canaanitish abominations which called for such avengers as the men who received it. The dispensation under which we live is one of forbearing and suffering Love; and, if we cast a longing eye on territories to possess ourselves of which we have received no such mandate as was given to Moses and his people,let us beware lest we go before we are sent, and are sternly called to account by our Divine Judge for our lust of dominion. No opinion is here expressed as to whether a commission to exterminate tribes guilty of enormous wickedness may or may not be constructively inferred, in the absence of express Divine revelation; but let statesmen remember the position in which they stand in such matters, and make very sure of their Divine call to invade other lands before they draw the sword for such ends. Extremes beget extremes. Let us avoid them in this matter, by remembering that we are not Israel; but, of the Israel of ancient times, let us judge fairly; and of her hero king, as he appears in this truly magnificent song.
It will have been observed by every reader how very figurative is this psalm. Many of the metaphors employed, it is true, are so obvious in their significance and of such easy application to well-known or readily imaginable incidents in Davids history as to need little explanatory comment. But there is one figurative representation in the psalm which is so bold, and prolonged as almost to amount to an allegory; and is at the same time so lofty in its sublimity as to render it possible for us to let its historical application escape us. The historical event to which it refers is Davids danger of perishing by the hand of the violent King Saul; and the daring figure by which his escape from that danger is set forth is that of escape from drowning; but until we connect the danger as described in Psa. 18:4-5 with the deliverance as briefly asserted in Psa. 18:16; and observe that the intervening verses portray first a divine preparatory movement from the highest heaven down to the skies of this lower world, and then the gathering of the Storm which it to effect the rescue; and then, finally, the outburst of the Storm, culminating in the deliverance of the Drowning Man from sinking down into the abysses of destruction;the possibility is that the point of the allegory may be lost in what may unjustly appear to be a cloud of words. But when once the largeness of the poetical scheme of representation is apprehended, then it may be found that the need arises for a fresh grasp of the historical situation, to enable us to discover some proportion between the facts as they occurred and the figures in which they are here clothed. Let us then sufficiently recall the incidents of the history to enable us to realise that the danger to David from Saul was greater, more prolonged, and more distressing, than any other which befell Israels favourite hero prior to his firm settlement in his kingdom. Of the troubles which befell him afterwards and of their grievous occasion, there is no need here to take account; since we are only concerned now to get behind this Triumphal Ode and the events Which led up to it. We have, then, to remember that Saul was Davids first hero and lord; that, as Jehovahs anointed, he commanded the young Bethlehemites profoundest homage; that he drew the young harpist and warrior into peculiarly close and difficult relations to himself; that he became unreasonably jealous of him, lent a willing ear to every malicious story told of him, persecuted him with relentless hatred: and, all the while, heDavidcould not, would not, durst not lift up a hand against his master. He had to suffer and wait for Divine interposition; and many a time must it have appeared that such interposition was never coming. Is it any wonder, then, that, being a poet born, he should oft have compared himself to a DROWNING MAN, in his last exhausted struggles against the surging flood of the Kishon, the Jordan, or even of the great western sea, of sinking in the depths of which he may, in the course of this eventful life have been in danger? And, considering how in this contest he could not strike a blow in self-defence but had to leave his succour exclusively in Jehovahs hands, is it so very surprising that, being a poet born and conscious of a Divine afflatus carrying him out and beyond himself, and his deliverance when it came being so unexpected and ultimately so complete,he should have conceived the idea and clothed it in words of such a theophanic interposition as he here describes? Other enemies could be alluded to in quite an ordinary manner; and his own share in running, leaping, climbing, bending the bowusing his feet, his arms, his hands, could all be allowed to shine through by means of familiar poetic allusions; but the enemythe violent manthe perverse,HE had to be reverently left to the judgment of God; and none can say that that judgment has not been most effectivelyeven if most poeticallydescribed. From his chief foe, the poet had been rescued by an interposition absolutely Divine.
It has been objected to Stanza IV. (Psa. 18:20-27), that, in various degrees it is unlike the original psalm, and must be regarded as made up of later glosses. Of Psa. 18:21-24, in particular, it is alleged (by Br.) that it has nothing in keeping with the previous thought of the psalm. The original is hot with passion: this is calm and placid. Now the fact of a passing change of feeling may be frankly conceded. But is the inference drawn therefrom legitimate? Why may not David have rested his muse for a little, and imparted a moral backbone to his ode by drawing from the stores of his memory sentiments learned in the school of Samuel in his brief sojourn in Naioth? In particular, those singular epigrammatic sayings forming Psa. 18:25-26 (To the man of kindness, etc.), may well be a sample of the wisdom learned by the sons of the prophets under the presidency of the great seer: who, as we know from 1Sa. 15:22-23, knew how to moralise. Moreover, there are several points of contact between the stanza brought under suspicion and those going before and after. The close of the previous stanza, at Psa. 18:19 (because he delighteth in me), forms an excellent point of departure for what immediately follows; and then again Psa. 18:27 reads much like an application of the foregoing principles, by David, to his own actual circumstances. It seems peculiarly apt that he should think of his own little band of followers as a humbled people, saved; and of the downfall of Sauls house as the laying low of looks that were lofty almost beyond endurance. Again, it may be observed that in any case the hot passion of the opening stanzas has cooled towards the end of the psalm. For there is something, not merely placid, but almost playful in the way in which, through Stanzas V. and VI., the now staid monarch recounts the exploits of his early and more warlike young manhood. Finally, it may be said, in the interest of the poetic art, that the retention of the stanza which Dr. Briggs sets aside, brings the stanzas up to the perfect number, seven, and admirably places the Wisdom stanza in the centre of the psalm, just between the passivity and the activity of the psalmist; at the same time leaving the closing stanza with those nice touches of royalty upon it which impart to it a special fitness to form the crown of the song.
It is reassuring, after the contrary denials of Wellhausen, to find so strenuous a critic as Dr. Briggs admitting that; If we remove the glosses, which have adapted an ode of victory of David to later religious uses, the ode stands out in simple grandeur as fitting appropriately to the historical experience of David, whether he wrote it or another wrote it for him by historic imagination, entering into the experience of the heroic king. After removing the glosses there is nothing that bars the way to his authorship. Even a critical reader may doubt whether it is necessary to remove the alleged glosses, beyond the point which leaves us with seven symmetrical stanzas. It may be further said that, in view of the admitted beauties of this song, we need never decline the Davidic authorship of a psalm merely on the score of its poetic excellence.
The great value of the following extract will excuse its length. David began, as in Psa. 18:2, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; and went on to rehearse the wonderful acts of God in his daily deliverance. Hezekiah had as much to say, if not more; but he must begin differently. His deliverance from death and a host of enemies, induced in him a tenderness of expression which suggested a new beginning for the psalm, even though confined to a single line. So he prefixed the words, I love thee, O Lord, my Strength. The terms are strikingFervently do I love thee: warmly do I cherish thee (r-h-m). After such a pledge of affection, the king could proceed, and appropriate to his own lips lines which, in the language of poetry, are suitable for the description of any notable intervention on the part of Jehovah . . . The grateful soul must entertain a warm affection for Jehovah by whom it had been loved (h-sh-k). Hence, he says in one place: I love (h-b) the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplication (Psa. 116:1); and the Lord spoke in response Because he hath set his love (h-sh-k) upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high because he hath known my name (Psa. 91:14) . . . Upon whom is the kings affection lavished? Upon Jehovah, MY STRENGTH. Who could say this like Hezekiah? The man whose name was hzkyhu speaks of his Deliverer as yhwh hzky. All the promise and assurance of the kings name have been realised; and now love is returned, in warmest emotion, to a faithful God. In other words, in the terms used we have the elements of the name Hezekiah . . . Everything favours the conclusion that substantial changes (in the psalms) so far as they may be detected, belong to the reign of HezekiahThirtle, O.T.P., 122124.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Please read again the account of Sauls pursuit of David as given in 1Sa. 19:1 to 1Sa. 27:12. Select and discuss at least two instances in which this psalm could have application or fulfillment.
2.
Read 2Sa. 22:1-51notice that there is no question as to whom this psalm applies. Why is it repeated in the Bible?
3.
Define and relate to David the following expressions: (a) The breakers of death or the waves of death; (b) The meshes of hades or the cords of Sheol; (c) The snares of death.
4.
Define and relate to Jehovah (and David) the following expressions: (a) Then the earth shook and trembled; (b) Fierce flames leaped from His mouth, setting fire to the earth; smoke blew from His nostrils; (c) And He sent forth His arrows and scattered them.
5.
Please satisfy your own mind (and of those who study with you) that there is no blame for injustice associated with God as revealed in this psalm. Discuss.
6.
Read the following discussion of this psalm by G. Campbell Morgandiscuss his point of view:
This is one of the most majestic and beautiful of the worship psalms. It is at once a perfect pattern of praise, and therefore a great revelation of the method and might and mercy of God. So clear and simple is it in its movement and language that nothing need be said of it save perhaps to suggest an analysis to aid in its study.
PROLOGUE OF PRAISE (Psa. 18:1-3). Here the psalmist pours out the gladness and gratitude of his heart which thrills with the highest spirit of adoration.
THE PERIL AND DELIVERANCE (Psa. 18:4-19). The terrible nature of the peril is first made clear, and then the story of the might and majesty of Jehovahs process is told, and the fact of deliverance declared.
THE PRINCIPLE (Psa. 18:20-29). The reason of the Divine deliverance is declared, and the truth of perpetual importance, that God is to man what man is to God, is affirmed.
THE RESULTANT CONFIDENCE (Psa. 18:30-45). Again the song breaks forth in almost tumultuous joy. Absolute confidence in God, and assurance of continued triumph are based upon experiences already gained of His goodness.
EPILOGUE OF PRAISE (Psa. 18:46-50). The anthem ends with further sentences which group the benefits conferred upon the king by his God, and attest his determination to praise Him among the nations.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) I will love thee.Better, Dearly do I love thee. The line is wanting in Samuel.
My strength.This strikes the keynote of the whole poem. The strong, mighty God is the object in Davids thought throughout. It is a warriors song, and his conception of Jehovah is a warriors conception.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. I will love thee I will tenderly love thee. The word denotes strong and tender love, as that of a parent.
My strength We delight to call God our strength when we love him and feel our weakness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
David Expresses His Trust in YHWH ( Psa 18:1-3 ).
Psa 18:1
‘I love you, O YHWH, my strength.’
These words are added to the beginning of the original Psalm. They are not found in the parallel Psalm in 2Sa 22:2-51. They are a declaration of personal faith and dedication, especially suitable for expressing worship. In them both the worshipper’s genuine love for YHWH, and his personal dependence on His strength are both stressed. Love towards God and trust in His provided strength are the basis of all spiritual life. Blessed is the man who can truly say to God, ‘I love you’ (Deu 6:5-6) and can also say, ‘YHWH is my strength’, the One Who makes him strong.
Psa 18:2-3
‘YHWH is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge,
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
I will call on YHWH, who is worthy to be praised,
So shall I be saved from my enemies.’
David now multiplies metaphors in order to bring out the wonder of what it means to trust in the Almighty God, and the people enter into the experience with him. He twice describes God as a rock, the first time as a strong and firm foundation, the second as a useful hiding place. The idea is firstly of a rock which is firmly a part of the mountain of which it is the expression, firm, solid, dependable, unbreakable and sure. He had cause to know. He had spent much time in the mountains, and knew the strength of those solid rocks in the face of adversity. But he saw God as the great Rock, stronger and more dependable than all.
God was also his fortress, the place where he could go to find refuge so that he could look out on his enemy without fear. Once he was in his fortress he could laugh in the face of the enemy. And He was also his Deliverer, his Saviour. For God not only protects, He also delivers those who are His own.
The second mention of the rock has the idea of it as a place of refuge. It is still firm and strong, but it is a place where the fugitive may hide in its crevices, kept safe from those who would hunt him down.
The fact that the Psalm was introduced into public worship is an indication that we can each take these promises to ourselves. We too can depend on the Rock, take refuge in the Fortress and respond to and rejoice in the Saviour.
‘My God (El), my rock, in whom I will take refuge.’ Above all YHWH is his God, the ever-reliable, the ever-dependable, the impregnable, the One in Whom is the place of total safety. Nothing can harm us when we are hidden in God, for when we are with Him all that would affect us must come through Him. It may seem fearful, but it is under His control, and can only enter with His permission.
‘My shield, and the horn of my salvation.’ A shield is in a sense a personal fortress which we can carry around with us. It protects from all attacks, both by arrow, sword or spear, indeed from all assaults of the enemy (Eph 6:16). And a horn is the expression of personal strength which we bear, as it were, on our foreheads (as the wild ox does) and with which we can defend and deliver ourselves. It may well be that warriors wore horns on their headgear as an expression of their ferocity. But here our horn is God Himself. Nothing can stand before Him. Thus deliverance is sure. The promise is to each individual as well as to all. We will each be delivered because YHWH shields us and gives us saving strength, and acts as our horn with which to defeat the enemy. For the idea of the horn compare among other references Psa 28:7-8; Deu 33:17; Luk 1:69.
‘My high tower.’ And finally we reach the ultimate in security, ‘the high tower’. That mighty fortress which men built for maximum security, made even more secure by the fact that this particular high tower is God Himself. No vulnerability here.
‘I will call on YHWH, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies.’ Thus David knows that he can call on this mighty Rock, this Fortress, this Deliverer, this Shield and Horn, this High Tower, the One Who is worthy of all praise, and will then in one way or another be saved from all his enemies. And all who sing the psalm with him know it too.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psalms 18
Historical Background – Psalms 18 is found in 2Sa 22:1-51.
Psa 18:1 (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,) I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
Psa 18:1
1Jn 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
Psa 18:6-12 God Comes Down from Heaven – The description of God coming down from Heaven to intervene in the affairs of man in Psalms 18 is very similar to the vision that the prophet Ezekiel received in the first chapter of his writings (see Eze 1:4-28). In addition, both David and the children of the Babylonian captivity were experiencing distress during this visitation from above.
Psa 18:29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
Psa 18:29
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
A Psalm of Thanksgiving for Deliverance and Victory.
A Recital of God’s Blessings
v. 1. I will love Thee, v. 2. The Lord is my Rock, v. 3. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, v. 4. The sorrows of death, v. 5. The sorrows of hell, v. 6. In my distress I called upon the Lord, v. 7. Then the earth shook and trembled, v. 8. There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, v. 9. He bowed the heavens also, v. 10. And He rode upon a cherub, v. 11. He made darkness His secret place, v. 12. At the brightness that was before Him, v. 13. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, v. 14. Yea, He sent out His arrows, v. 15. Then the channels of waters were seen, v. 16. He sent from above, v. 17. He delivered me from my strong enemy, v. 18. They prevented me, v. 19. He brought me forth also, v. 20. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, v. 21. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, v. 22. For all His judgments were before me, v. 23. I was also upright before Him, v. 24. Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His eyesight. v. 25. With the merciful Thou wilt show thyself merciful, v. 26. with the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure; and with the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward, v. 27. For Thou wilt save the afflicted people, v. 28. For Thou wilt light my candle, v. 29. For by Thee I have run through a troop,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THIS psalm has many characteristics which distinguish it, not only from all that have preceded it in the collection, but from all those which are assigned to David by their titles. In the first pace, it is the longest of such psalms, extending, as it does, to fifty distinguish it, not only from all that have verses, or a hundred and fourteen lines, but from all Hebrew poetry. Next, it is continuous, not broken into strophes (Hengstenberg). Thirdly, it appears, not only in the Psalter, but also in one of the historical books the Second Book of Samuel, in what seems to be a second edition. Further, it is in itself a very remarkable composition, being distinguished alike by “vigour and grace; full of archaic grandeur, and yet free from abrupt transitions and thoughts labouring for utterance, such as make some of the earlier psalms difficult to understand” (‘Speaker’s Commentary’). Hitzig calls it “an unrivalled production of art and reflection.”
The authorship of David is generally allowed, and indeed has been questioned only by three recent criticsOlshausen, Von Lengerke, and Professor Cheyne. The period at which it was written is declared in the title to be “when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul”a date which is quite in accord with the contents of the poem. For while it celebrates his deliverance from perils of various kindsfrom a “strong enemy” (Psa 18:17), from a “flood of ungodly men” (Psa 18:4), from the near approach of death (Psa 18:4, Psa 18:5), and from a host of foreign enemies (Psa 18:29-43)there is no allusion in it to domestic foes, and no indication of remorse for any special sin. The exact time cannot be fixed; but it was probably soon after the series of victories described in 2Sa 10:1-19; and before the events recorded in 2Sa 11:1-27. and 12.
It is thought, with some reason, that the psalm was composed for a great occasion of public thanksgiving. Most likely it was processional, and therefore not broken into strophes, but continuous. Still, we may trace in it,
(1) an introduction, or prologue (2Sa 11:1-3), which is an ascription of praise;
(2) a central mass, chiefly in a narrative form (2Sa 11:4 -45), recounting God’s goodness; and
(3) a conclusion, or epilogue (verses 46-50), which is mainly thanksgiving. The central mass is further broken up by the interposition into the narrative of a passage (2Sa 11:19-27) declaring the grounds of the favour and protection which God had extended to the psalmist, and, so far, “setting forth the subjective principles on which the Lord imparts his aid” to his servants (Hengstenberg).
Psa 18:1
I will love thee, O Lord, my Strength. This opening is very remarkable. The verb translated “I will love” expresses the very tenderest affection, and is elsewhere never used to denote the love of man towards God, but only that of God towards man. The entire verse, moreover, is withdrawn from the “second edition” of the psalm (2Sa 22:1-51.)which was perhaps prepared for liturgical useas too sacred and too private to suit a public occasion.
Psa 18:2
The Lord is my Rock; or, my Cliffmy Sela’an expression used commonly of Petra. And my Fortress (comp. Psa 144:2). Not only a natural stronghold, but one made additionally strong by art. And my Deliverer. A living Protector, not a mere inanimate defence. My God, my Strength; rather, my Rock, as the same word (tsur) is translated in Exo 17:6; Exo 33:21, Exo 33:22; Deu 32:4, Deu 32:15, Deu 32:18, Deu 32:31; 1Sa 2:2; 2Sa 23:3; Isa 26:4. It is the word from which the strong city, Tyro, derived its. name. In whom I will trust (comp. Dent. 32:37). My Buckler (comp. Gen 15:1, where God announced himself as Abraham’s “Shield;” and see also Deu 33:29; Psa 3:2; Psa 5:12; Psa 84:11; Psa 119:114; Psa 144:2). The Horn also of my salvation (comp. Luk 1:69). The horn is the emblem at once of strength and of dignity. A “horn of salvation” is a source of excellency and might, whence “salvation” or deliverance comes to those who trust in it. And my high Tower (comp. Psa 9:9, with the comment ad loc.). It is remarked that God, in this passage, receives seven epithets, “the mystic number which in sacred things symbolizes perfection” (Delitzsch).
Psa 18:3
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. Not so much a simple future, “I will call upon the Lord at some particular time,” as a future of continuance, “I call, and will ever call, upon the Lord, worthy to be praised;” and soi.e; so long as I callshall I be saved from mine enemies (comp. Psa 5:10, Psa 5:12; Psa 6:8-10; Psa 10:15, Psa 10:16, etc.).
Psa 18:4
The sorrows of death compassed me. Here begins the narrative of David’s sufferings in the past. “‘The sorrows’or rather, ‘the cords’of death,” he says, “encompassed me,” or “coiled around me” (Kay). Death is represented as a hunter, who goes out with nets and cords, encompassing his victims and driving them into the toils. David’s recollection is probably of the time when he was “hunted upon the mountains” by Saul (1Sa 26:20), and expected continually to be caught and put to death (1Sa 19:1; 1Sa 23:15; 1Sa 27:1). And the floods of ungodlymen made me afraid; literally, the torrents of Belial, or of ungodliness. The LXX. have , . Streams of ungodly men, the myrmidons of Saul, cut him off from escape.
Psa 18:5
The sorrows of hell compassed me about; literally, the cords of Sheol, or Hades. Death and Hell are, both of them, personified, and made to join in the chase. The ensnaring nets are drawn nearer and nearer; at last the toils close in, the last cast is made, and the prey is taken. The snares of death prevented me; or, came upon me (Revised Version)”took me by surprise” (Kay).
Psa 18:6
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God. At this supreme moment, when he is entangled in the snares, and on the point of being slain, the psalmist represents himself as invoking the aid of the Almighty. As Hengstenberg notes, “While the manifold distresses are united in the beginning of the verse into one great ‘distress,’ so the manifold Divine hearings and helps are united into a single grand hearing and help”and, we may add, the manifold cries into one great cry. He heard my voice out of his temple; i.e. his tabernacle, since the temple was not yet built (comp. Psa 5:7; Psa 11:4); or perhaps, “out of heaven “(Cheyne). And my cry came before him, even into his ears (comp. Exo 2:23, where the same word is used for the “cry” of the children of Israel in Egypt).
Psa 18:7
Then the earth shook and trembled; or, quailed and quaked (Kay, who thus expresses the assonance of the Hebrew vat-tig’ash vat-tir’ ash). The psalmist must not be understood literally. He does not mean that the deliverance came by earthquake, storm, and thunder, but describes the discomfiture and dismay of his opponents by a series of highly poetical images. In these he, no doubt, follows nature closely, and probably describes what he had seen, heard, and felt. The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken. In violent earthquakes, the earth seems to rock to its foundations; mountain ranges are sometimes actually elevated to a height of several feet; rocks topple down; and occasionally there are earth-slips of enormous dimensions. Because he was wroth. God’s anger against the psalmist’s enemies produced the entire disturbance which he is describing.
Psa 18:8
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils. Emissions of smoke are a common feature of volcanic disturbances, with which earthquakes are closely connected. The LXX. give, instead of “out of his nostrils,” in his anger ( ), which is better, since the Hebrew prefix , “in,” certainly cannot mean “out of.” And fire out of his mouth devoured. Fire-balls are said to have accompanied some earthquakes, as especially that one by which Julian’s design of rebuilding Jerusalem was frustrated. Coals were kindled by it. The fire-balls above spoken of are declared to have scorched and burnt the workmen employed by Julian.
Psa 18:9
He bowed the heavens also, and came down (comp. Psa 145:5). In a storm the clouds do actually descend, and the whole heaven seems to be bowed down to earth. God is said to “come down” to earth whenever he delivers the oppressed, and takes vengeance on their oppressors (see Exo 3:8; 2Sa 22:10; Psa 144:5; Isa 64:1-12. I, 3, etc.). And darkness was under his feet. A deep darkness commonly accompanies both earthquake and storm. When God actually descended on Mount Sinai, it was amid thunders and lightnings, and “a thick cloud” (Exo 19:16), elsewhere called “thick darkness” (Deu 5:22).
Psa 18:10
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly. The imagery here transcends all experience, and scarcely admits of comment or explanation. God is represented as borne through the heavens, as he proceeds to execute his purposes, by the highest of his creatures, the cherubim. Elsewhere (Psa 104:3) he sails through the sky supported on clouds. Yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind; rather, he sped swiftly (Kay). The verb used is different from that translated “did fly” in the preceding verse. It is applied elsewhere especially to the eagle (Deu 28:49; Jer 48:40; Jer 49:22).
Psa 18:11
He made darkness his secret place; i.e. he hid himself amid clouds and thick darkness. In executing his judgments he did not allow himself to be seen. God’s action is always secret and inscrutable. His pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. The original runs as follows: “He made darkness his secret placehis pavilion round about himdark waters, thick clouds of the skies.” The whole forms one sentence, “his pavilion” being in apposition with “secret place,” and the last clause, “dark waters, thick clouds of the skies,” being exegetical of the “darkness” in the first clause. God’s “pavilion,” or “tent” (), is mentioned again in Psa 27:5 and Psa 31:20.
Psa 18:12
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed. The “brightness” intended is probably that of lightning. The “thick clouds” are riven and parted asunder for the lightning to burst forth. Then come, almost simultaneously, hail stones and coals of fire; i.e; hail like that which fell in Egypt before the Exodus (Exo 9:22-34), when “there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail” (Psa 18:24)a fire which “ran along upon the ground,” or some very unusual electrical phenomenon.
Psa 18:13
The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice. With the lightning came, necessarily, thunder, rolling along the heavens, and seeming like the voice of God (comp. Job 38:4, Job 38:5). Hail stones and coals of fire. The phrase is repeated for the sake of emphasis. The hail and the lightning are represented as conjointly the ministers of the Divine vengeance.
Psa 18:14
Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them. God’s “arrows” are often spoken of. Job felt them within him (Job 6:4). David has already said of them, that they are “ordained against the persecutors” (Psa 7:13). We may understand by the expression any sharp pains, mental or bodily, which God sends. And he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. The effect of the tempest of God’s wrath is to “scatter” and “discomfit” the enemy (comp. Exo 14:24). Instead of” and he shot out lightnings,” our Revisers give, and lightnings manifold, which is perhaps better.
Psa 18:15
Then the channels of waters were seen. By “the channels of waters” seem to be meant the torrent-courses, so common in Palestine, especially on either side of Jordan, which convey into it the winter rains. These “were seen,” lit up by the “lightnings manifold,” having previously been in darkness (see Psa 18:9-11). At the same time, the foundations of the world were discovered. The earthquake (Psa 18:7) still continuing, the earth gaped in places, and the glare of the lightning enabled the eye to penetrate deep into the solid globeso deep that it seemed to reach the “foundations.” At thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils (comp. Psa 18:7, “because he was wroth”).
Psa 18:16
He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. While destruction thus came upon David’s enemies (Psa 18:12-14), God’s protecting hand was stretched out to save David himself, who was carefully “taken” and tenderly “drawn” forth from among the “many waters,” i.e. the dangers and difficulties which threatened him. Some commentators see in the words used”he sent, he took me, he drew me”a tacit reference to Exo 2:5, Exo 2:10, and, by implication, a sort of parallel between the deliverance of David from his foes and that of Moses from the waters of the Nile (Kay, Hengstenberg, ‘Speaker’s Commentary’).
Psa 18:17
He delivered me from my strong enemy. This is generally understood of Saul. By the defeat of Gilboa, and its consequences (1Sa 31:1-4), God delivered David from the peril of death which hung over him so long as Saul lived. And from them which hated me. David’s enemies among the courtiers of Saul were powerless without their master. Many, probably, fell in the battle; the rest sank into obscurity. For they were too strong for me. I must have succumbed to them had not God helped me.
Psa 18:18
They prevented me in the day of my calamity. But the Lord was my Stay. God frustrated all the designs of David’s foes, and prevented him from falling into their hands.
Psa 18:19
He brought me forth also into a large place (comp. Psa 31:8; Psa 118:5). By “a large place” is probably meant open ground, not encompassed by snares, or nets, or enemies in ambush. He delivered me, because he delighted in me. David now proceeds to explain the grounds of God’s favour towards him. He begins by summing up all in a word, “God delighted in him.” He then goes on to explain the causes of God’s “delight” (Psa 18:20-26).
Psa 18:20
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. David has spoken of his “righteousness” already in Psa 7:8. We must not suppose him to mean absolute blamelessness, any more than Job means such blamelessness by his “integrity” (Job 27:5; Job 31:6). He means honesty of purpose, the sincere endeavour to do right, such conduct as brings about “the answer of a good conscience before God” (1Pe 3:21). According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me (comp. Job 27:9; Psa 24:4). “Clean hands” are hands unstained by any wicked action.
Psa 18:21
For I have kept the ways of the Lord. Compare the statement of the young man whom Jesus “looked upon and loved’ (Mar 10:21), “All these commandments have I observed from my youth” (Psa 18:20). And have not wickedly departed from my God. It is observed that the word translated by “departed wickedly” implies “wilful and persistent wickedness” (‘Speaker’s Commentary’)”an entire alienation from God” (Calvin). Not even in the humblest of the penitential psalms, when David is bewailing his great offence, does he use this verb of himself. He is an example to all men not to indulge in a false humility, nor employ phrases concerning himself which go beyond the truth.
Psa 18:22
For all his judgments were before me; i.e. “all his commandments” (compare the use of the same word ( throughout the hundred and nineteenth psalm). And I did not put away his statutes from me. The wicked are said to “cast God’s commandments behind their back” (1Ki 14:9; Neh 9:26; Psa 50:17; Eze 23:35). David declares that he had never so acted; he had kept God’s statutes always well before him, had borne them in mind, and given heed to them.
Psa 18:23
I was also upright before him (compare what is said of David in 1Ki 11:4; 1Ki 14:8; 1Ki 15:5). Like Job, he was “perfect and upright “” one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). And I kept myself from mine iniquity; i.e. from the sin to which I was especially tempted.” (Kay compares the of Heb 12:1.) But what sin this was, we have no means of determining. All that appears is that David had an inclination to some particular form of sin, against which he found it necessary to be continually upon his guard.
Psa 18:24
Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. Having set forth the particulars of his righteousness (Psa 18:21-23), the psalmist returns to his previous general statement (Psa 18:20), and emphatically reaffirms it.
Psa 18:25-28
A short didactic digression is here interposed, extending the principles on which God has dealt with David and his enemies, to mankind generally (Psa 18:25-27); after which a return is made to Go&’s special dealings with David (Psa 18:28).
Psa 18:25
With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful. The main principle is that God will act towards men as they act towards him. If they are kindly, gracious, loving towards himfor this is what the word chasid meanshe will be kindly, gracious, loving towards them, and vice versa, as explained in Psa 18:26, Psa 18:27. With an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; or, a perfect man (Revised Version). The word is the same as that used in Psa 4:3; Psa 12:1; Psa 31:23; Psa 34:6; Psa 37:28, etc; and generally translated “godly,” or, in the plural, “saints.”
Psa 18:26
With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward; rather, thou wilt show thyself adverse. The same root is not here used for the verb as for the adjective, as is done in the three preceding clauses. The reason is well explained in the ‘Speaker’s Commentary:’ “In dealing with the good, God shows his approval by manifesting attributes similar or identical in essence; in dealing with the wicked, he exhibits attributes which are correlativein just proportion to their acts,” but not identical. God cannot “show himself froward”he can only show himself opposed, antagonistic, an adversary. What the psalmist means to say is that, if men oppose and thwart God, he in return will oppose and thwart them. But they will act in a perverse spirit, he in a spirit of justice and righteousness.
Psa 18:27
For thou wilt save the afflicted people; i.e. the oppressed and down-trodden, who are assumed to be pious and God-fearing (comp. Psa 10:12-14; Psa 11:2, etc.). But wilt bring down high looks (comp. Psa 101:5 and Pro 6:17). The fact of “pride going before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall,” was noticed by the heathen of the ancient world, no less than by the” peculiar people.” And both alike attributed the downfall of the proud to God. “Seest thou,” says Herodotus, “how God with his lightning smites always the bigger animals, and will not suffer them to wax insolent, while those of a lesser bulk chafe him not? How likewise his bolts ever fall on the highest houses and the tallest trees? So plainly does he love to bring down everything that exalts itself. Thus ofttimes a mighty host is discomfited by a few men, when God in his jealousy sends panic or storm from heaven, and they perish in a way unworthy of them. For God allows no one to have high thoughts but himself” (vii. 10, 5). But the heathen seem to have imagined that God envied the proud ones, and therefore cast them down.
Psa 18:28-45
As in the former narrative section (Psa 18:4-24) David seems to have had his earlier troubles in mind, so, in the present one, his troubles since he entered upon the kingdom seem especially to engage his thoughts. These consisted chiefly of wars with foreign enemies, in which, while he incurred many dangers, he was, upon the whole, eminently successful.
Psa 18:28
For thou wilt light my candle; rather, my lampthe word generally used of the lamps supported by the seven-branched candelabrum of the tabernacle (see Exo 25:37; Exo 37:22, Exo 37:23; Exo 40:25). David himself is called “the lamp of Israel” in 2Sa 21:17. The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. The true lamp of David, which “enlightened his darkness,” was “the light of God’s countenance.” While this shone upon him, his whole path was bright, and he himself, reflecting the Divine rays, was a lamp to others.
Psa 18:29
For by thee I have run through a troop. The military key-note is at once struck. Gedud () is a marauding band of light-armed troops sent out to plunder an enemy’s country. David “ran through” such a “troop,” when he pursued and defeated the Amalekites who had plundered and burnt Ziklag (1Sa 30:17). It is called three times a gedud (Psa 18:8 and Psa 18:15 twice). And by my God have I leaped over a wall. Shur () is a rare word for “wall,” occurring in the Hebrew text only here and in Gen 49:22, though used also of the walls of Jerusalem in the Chaldee of Ezra (Ezr 4:12, Ezr 4:13, Ezr 4:16). It may designate the walls of Jerusalem in this place, and David may intend to allude to his conquest of the stronghold of Zion from the Jebusites (2Sa 5:6, 2Sa 5:7).
Psa 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect (comp. Deu 32:4, “His work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment”). What God does, he does effectually; he does not have recourse to half-measures. The word of the Lord is tried; i.e. the promises of God are sure, they have been tested, and tried as by fire, and will never fail. He is a Buckler to all those that trust in him (comp. Psa 18:2).
Psa 18:31
For who is God save the Lord (see Exo 20:3; Deu 32:39). As the one and only God, absolute confidence may be placed in Jehovah, who is able to protect and preserve to the uttermost all who serve him. Or who is a Rock save our God? (comp. Psa 18:2; and see also Deu 32:4, Deu 32:18, Deu 32:30, Deu 32:31; and Psa 61:2).
Psa 18:32
It is God that girdeth me with strength (comp. Psa 18:39). And maketh my way perfect. Keeps me, i.e; in the right waythe way of his commandments.
Psa 18:33
He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet. The Israelites reckoned swiftness of foot, agility, and endurance among the highest of warlike qualities. These qualities were needed especially in the pursuit of defeated enemies; and the rapidity of David’s conquests (2Sa 5:6-10; 2Sa 8:1-14; 2Sa 10:15 -20) must be ascribed to them mainly. And setteth me upon my high places; i.e. establishes me in the strongholds that command my extensive territory, and give me secure possession of it, as Zion, Rabbath-Ammon, Damascus, Petra, perhaps Zobah, Rehob, and others.
Psa 18:34
He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms (comp. Psa 144:1). “A bow of steel” is a mistranslation, since nechusha () is not “steel,” but “brass,” or rather “bronze “-and bows of steel were unknown to the ancients. Compare the comment on Job 20:24.
Psa 18:35
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation; i.e. in battle thou extendest over me the shield of thy protection. Nothing was more common in ancient warfare than for a warrior, while he was engaged in using his offensive weapons, especially the bow, to be protected from the missiles of the enemy by a comrade who held a shield before him. The Assyrian kings were constantly thus defended in battle, and it was even common for an ordinary archer to be similarly guarded. And thy right hand hath holden me up. The “right hand” is always spoken of as the arm of greatest strength (comp. Psa 44:3; Psa 45:4; Psa 48:10; Psa 60:5, etc.). And thy gentleness hath made me great; rather, thy condescension (Kay)the quality in God which most nearly corresponds to humility in man. The word is not elsewhere used of God.
Psa 18:36
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. Job often complained that God “hedged in his steps” (Job 3:23) and “fenced up his way” (Job 19:5), so that he had no liberty of movement. David enumerates among the blessings which he receives of God, the freedom which he enjoys (comp. Psa 31:8). He is at liberty to go where he likes. and also his footsteps “do not slip.” This is rather an independent clause than a consequence. Translate, and my ankles slip not.
Psa 18:37
I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them (see 1Sa 30:8-17; 2Sa 8:1-13; 2Sa 10:6-18). Neither did I turn again till they were consumed. The greatest severities exercised by David seem to have been those against Edom (1Ki 11:15, 1Ki 11:16) and Ammon (2Sa 12:29-31). Otherwise he would seem not to have used, with any great harshness, his rights as a conqueror.
Psa 18:38
I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. It is remarkable that the nations which David subdued scarcely ever, while he lived, rose up again in revolt.
Psa 18:39
For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle. Having boasted of his own actions during the space of two verses (Psa 18:37, Psa 18:38), David falls back upon his habitual acknowledgments, that all which he has done has been done wholly through the strength of the Divine arm, which has upheld him, sustained him, and given him the victory. Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me; rather, thou hast bowed down mine adversaries under me (Hengstenberg, Kay, Cheyne).
Psa 18:40
Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; i.e. “thou hast made them turn their backs upon me in flight” (comp. Exo 23:27, where the same expression is used). That I might destroy them that hate me. David must not be supposed to speak from personal animosity. He expresses himself as the king of God’s people, bound to do his utmost to protect them, and to deliver them from the enemies who “hate” him only because he is the leader and champion of his countrymen. The neighbouring nations in David’s time seem to have been bent on the total extirpation of the Hebrew people.
Psa 18:41
They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. It seems strange, at first sight, that the heathen enemies of David should “cry unto the Lord,” i.e. to Jehovah; and hence some have been driven to suppose that a victory over domestic enemies is here interpolated into the series of foreign victories. But it seems better to explain, with Hengstenberg and the ‘Speaker’s Commentary,’ that the heathen did sometimes, as a last resort, pray to a foreign god, whom they seemed to find by experience to be more powerful than their own (see Jon 1:14). Jehovah was known by name, as the God of the Israelites, to the surrounding nations. Mesha mentions him upon the Moabite Stone; and Sennacherib declared, by the mouth of Rabshakeh, “Am I come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord (Jehovah) said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it” (2Ki 18:25).
Psa 18:42
Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind (comp. Psa 35:5). The enemy were beaten and dispersed so that they seemed driven as dust before the wind. I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. They were made no account of, treated with as little ceremony as the clay in the streets. Language of utter contempt.
Psa 18:43
Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people. David now approaches his conclusion. In one verse he at once sums up his past deliverances and anticipates fresh glories. God has delivered him from the strivings of those who were hostile to him among his own people (see Psa 18:4-18), and has also given him victory over the heathen. In the future he will do even more. And thou hast made me the head of the heathen. The antithesis between “people” () and “heathen,” or “nations” (), is unmistakable. The long series of David’s victories have made him “head” over the latter. This is less clearly seen in the history of David’s reign than in the description given of the state of the kingdom inherited from David by Solomon (1Ki 4:21, 1Ki 4:24). A people whom I have not known shall serve me. It is not clear that this was ever fulfilled literally in the person of David, and, we are entitled to explain it as a Messianic prophecy, parallel with that of Psa 2:8.
Psa 18:44
As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me; literally, at the hearing of the ear. But the meaning is that given in the Authorized Version. The words aptly describe the conversion of the Gentiles (see Act 10:34-48; Act 13:48; Act 17:11; Act 18:8, etc.). The strangers shall submit themselves unto me; literally, the sons of the stranger shall pay court to menot necessarily a false court, as Hengstenberg and others suppose, but, as Dr. Kay explains, an “obsequious and servile homage.”
Psa 18:45
The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. Converts are represented as coming into the Church, not merely from love, but partly from fear. The kingdom of the Redeemer at once attracts and alarms. So Isaiah says, “The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted The sons also of them that afflict thee shall come kneeling unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee, The city of the Holy One of Israel” (Isa 60:12-14; see also Mic 7:16, Mic 7:17).
Psa 18:46-50
This glorious and triumphant psalm concludes with a solemn ascription of praise, blessing, and thanksgiving to Almighty Godpartly recapitulation of what has preceded (Psa 18:47, Psa 18:48), partly additional (Psa 18:46, Psa 18:49, Psa 18:50). Terms of praise are accumulated, and the whole is made to culminate in a Messianic burst, where David is swallowed up in his “Seed;” and the “Anointed King” presented to our view is rather the antitype than the typerather Christ Jesus than the son of Jesse.
Psa 18:46
The Lord liveth. God was known to Israel as “the living God” from the time of Moses (Deu 5:26). The epithet exalted him above all other so-called gods, who were not living. But it had also a very precious, absolute meaning. God’s life was the source of man’s. It was through God (who had life in himself) breathing into man the breath of life that man became a living soul (Gen 2:7). Hence “the living God” (Psa 42:2) is “the God of our life” (Psa 42:8). And blessed be my Rock (see Psa 18:1, Psa 18:31). In blessing “his Rock,” David blesses God for his qualities of firmness, steadfastness, and trustworthiness. And let the God of my salvation be exalted. “The God of my salvation” is a favourite phrase with David (see Psa 25:5; Psa 27:9; Psa 38:22; Psa 51:14; Psa 88:1). Other writers use it rarely. When David prays that the God of his salvation (i.e. the God who continually saves him and preserves him) may be “exalted,” he probably desires that he may be praised and honoured of all men.
Psa 18:47
It is God that avengeth me; rather, even the God avengeth me (comp. Psa 18:3, Psa 18:6, Psa 18:14, Psa 18:17, etc.). And subdueth the people under me; rather, the peoples; i.e. the nations (comp. Psa 18:37-42).
Psa 18:48
He delivereth me from mine enemies. The “deliverance” was especially from domestic foes (see Psa 18:17, Psa 18:19). His foreign foes seem never to have brought David into much peril. Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me. The “lifting up” was above enemies of both kinds (see Psa 18:43). Thou hast delivered me from the violent man (comp. Psa 18:17). There is no reason to doubt that in both places Saul is intended. He was at once David’s “enemy,” and a “man of violence.” Were the question open otherwise, it would be closed by the statement in the title.
Psa 18:49
Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen. As, in some sense, “the head of the heathen” (Psa 18:43), David was bound to offer prayer, and praise, and thanksgiving “among them,” if it were only to teach them by his example, and lead them on towards the worship of the true God. And sing praises unto thy Name; i.e. to thy PersonGod being in his Name.
Psa 18:50
Great deliverance giveth he to his king; literally, he magnifies salutations to his king. The primary reference seems to be to the gracious message which God sent to David by Nathan when he had brought the tabernacle into Jerusalem, and purposed to build a “house” worthy of it (see 2Sa 7:8-16). God had then “saluted” David as “his servant” (Psa 18:5), and sent him a message of the most gracious character, even promising the kingdom to him and to his seed “for ever” (Psa 18:13, Psa 18:16). And showeth mercy to his anointed, to David. No doubt David is primarily intended, both by the “king” of the first clause, and by the “anointed” of the second; but the combination of the two, and the immediate mention of the “seed” which is to reign “for ever,” carry the passage beyond the psalmist individually, and give to the conclusion of the psalm, at any rate, a semi-Messianic character. As Hengstenberg says, “Psalms of this kind are distinguished from those which may more strictly be called Messianic, only by thisthat in the latter the Messiah exclusively is brought into view, while here he is presented to our notice only as a member of the seed of David”.
HOMILETICS
Psa 18:25, Psa 18:26
God’s revelation of himself is suited to man’s capacity.
“With the merciful,” etc. We see what we have eyes to see; hear what we have ears to hear; feel what we have capacity to feel. Suppose four listeners to the same piece of music. To one, with a critical ear, it is a rendering, good or ill, of the musician’s composition; to a second, a strain of national music; to a third, full of memories of childhood; to a fourth, who has no ear for music, a tedious noise. Suppose a group watching a lamb skipping in a field. One is a painter; another, a naturalist; another, a shepherd; another, a butcher. Each sees something the rest cannot see. Perhaps a simple Christian coming by sees what none of them perceivesa reminder of the good Shepherd, who gathers the lambs in his arms. As in outward things, so in spiritual. As with bodily sight, hearing, feeling, so with spiritual perception. He that has eyes will see. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Therefore the lesson of the text is a great and widely applicable truthGod‘s revelation of himself is suited to men‘s spiritual capacity. Different souls get different views of God.
I. THIS IS TRUE OF GOD‘S DEALINGS.
1. They appear different to different eyes. Visit two homes, perhaps in the same street, in which there is similar troublesick-ness, or bereavement, or failure in business, or sore poverty. In one, all is gloom, repining, comfortless perplexity. In the other, there is light in the darkness, a rainbow on the storm. To one sufferer God’s ways are hard, dark, mysterious; he is even ready to think them unjust. The other says, “I could not bear it in my own strength, but the Lord stands by me and strengthens me. God’s will must be right. He cannot make mistakes or be unfaithful. He is my Refuge and Strength.” So with God’s government of the world and general providence. One mind fastens on the pain, sorrow, calamity, which every hour recordspestilence, earthquake, tempest, and so forth. Another sees that the universal design and general working of all natural laws is for good and happiness, not evil; that the main part of human suffering has its root in sin; that “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord;” and trusts God for the rest.
2. God’s dealings not only appear different; they are and must be different, according to the temper and attitude of our souls. To the soul that bows under God’s hand, trusts his Word, clings closer to him in trial, it is “chastening”full of mercy, rich in result (Heb 12:6, etc.). The proud, stubborn heart, that resents and rebels against affliction, is hardened by it, like Pharaoh.
II. IT IS SO WITH GOD‘S WORD. Come to the Scriptures in a cavilling, critical, hostile spirit, and they will teem with difficulties. Read them carelessly, scornfully; they will be dull and lifeless. Search them, with an earnest desire to know the truth, with prayer for the Holy Spirit’s teaching, with candour and humility; they will “talk with thee” (Pro 6:22), and unfold their secrets. Thou shalt hear God’s own voice speaking to thy soul; and find what the Thessalonians found (1Th 2:13).
III. SO IT WAS WITH OUR LORD JESUS. Isaiah’s prediction was fulfilled (Isaiah lilt. 2, 3). Scrupulously religious persons, but blinded by self-righteousness, could no more see his glory than sceptics, hypocrites, or scoffing triflers (Mat 13:14, Mat 13:15). But his disciplesthose who first believed on him, and then lived in close converse with himcould say, “We beheld his glory” (Joh 1:14).
CONCLUSION. SO it is to-day. This is a universal lawWhat God is to youwhat Christ is to you, shows what you are, and determines what you shall be. The gospel is an open secret, but still a secret, from proud, worldly hearts. The physician is for those who are sick and know it. The Saviour is for sinners who feel themselves sinners. The living water will not flow into a vessel turned upside down. Heaven itself would be no heaven to a heart full of love of the world, of self, of sin, and void of love to God.
Psa 18:35
Our exaltation through God’s gentleness.
“Thy gentleness hath made me great.” “Gentleness!” A most remarkable and wonderful word to apply to the Almighty Creator, the infinite God! Nowhere else do we find it thus applied. As applied to men, the Hebrew word so rendered here means “meekness,” “lowliness.” We are reminded of our Saviour’s words, “Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.” “Gentleness” is a very happy and beautiful translation. “Condescension,” which the Revisers give in the margin, would not be nearly so apt. It reminds us of Psa 113:6. But there the leading thought is the glory and condescension of God; here, our exaltation through his gracious gentleness.
I. THE GENTLENESS OF GOD‘S PROVIDENCE IS THE SAFEGUARD OF ALL OUR WELFARE, the condition of all human greatness and prosperity. Human life is like a flower, that can thrive only if fenced from storms and frosts. We are in a world filled with forces which, if they broke loose, would be our destruction. There is power sleeping in the winds and waves to wreck or drown all our navies; in earthquakes, to overthrow all our cities; in blight and insect ravages, to destroy our harvests. Even the light snowflakes, if they fell for a fortnight twenty feet deep all over our land, would turn it into a desert of the dead. On the other hand, how gently those immense forces work which minister to life! How smoothly earth flies in her yearly circle! No eye, or ear, or sense of ours can make the vapour rising from the ocean to fill the springs and water the plains; the secret ministry of the world of plants to the life of the animal worldpouring forth from numberless millions of millions of invisible mouths vital air, and removing what otherwise would soon poison and stifle us; or the pulse of growth in bud and blade, leaf, flower, and fruit, in spring and summer, as the returning tide of life answers to the gentle sunshine. “He causeth the grass to grow,” etc. (Psa 104:14, Psa 104:24, Psa 104:27; 2Co 9:10). How gently the great machine works! How gently the sunbeam touches the eye, after its flight of over ninety millions of miles in eight minutes! How gently the force of gravity, that holds suns and worlds in their places, draws the child’s foot to the ground and poises the gnat in the air! True, nature has a stern side, by fixing our thoughts on which a gloomy view may be made out. But take in the whole scope of natural law and Divine providence. For one city overthrown by earthquake, how many have stood safe for ages! For one shipwreck, how many prosperous voyages! For a season of local scarcity, how many plenteous harvests! For one home in mourning, how many bright with health and love!how many happy years, perhaps, in that very home! In a word, our Saviour sums up all we can say of the gracious gentleness of our Father’s providence (Luk 12:6, Luk 12:7; Mat 6:26-30).
II. THE GENTLENESS OF GOD‘S REVELATION OF HIMSELF IN HIS WORD IS OUR HIGHEST WISDOM. The Bible is a wonderfully different book from anything the wisest of men could have imagined as a revelation of God. Philosophers and men of genius, had they been consulted, would have agreed that it must be a book for the select few, not the multitude. The notion of teaching peasants, slaves, children, the deep things of God, would have seemed to them folly. But “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” He has given us a book for the cottage, the schoolroom, the sick-chamber, as well as for the college, the palace, the cathedral. A compilation of short books that look as though collected by chance, yet with wondrous living unity. Depth is concealed by clearness; sublimity by simplicity. Its deepest, highest lessons are given in words a child may understand. No words are too homely, no similitudes too humble, if only they can point the arrow of truth, or wing it home to the heart. We read of God’s eye, ear, hand, face; his throne, footstool, sword; of his remembering, forgetting, being angry, grieved, repeating, being well-pleased (look at Amo 2:13; Mal 1:6; Isa 1:3, Isa 1:14, Isa 1:18; Isa 49:15, Isa 49:16; Rev 7:17). A long unlovely name has been invented. by learned men to express this setting forth of Divine things in human language, “anthropomorphism.” It is used as though a reproach, indicating the ignorance and narrowness of the sacred writers. Suppose the Bible had been a book to please philo-sophia critics, what would have been its value to mankind? Suppose our heavenly Father had disdained to speak to us in our own language, how should we have learned that we are his children? The aim of his Word, his message to men, is not to make us philosophers, but to bring us sinners home to God. That teaching which best secures this end is worthiest of God.
III. THE GENTLENESS OF GOD IS THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF OUR PRAYERS. It would seem reasonable for God to say to us, “Prayer is needless; I know all your wants and desires. Presumptuous; I am the Judge, not you, of what is best. Useless; you cannot change my all-wise purposes.” Then we should have been deprived of the main comfort of life; our sheet-anchor in trouble; our closest, happiest, highest fellowship with our Maker and Father. Look at Abraham interceding for the guilty cities; Moses interceding for apostate Israel; Jonah crying from the sea-depths; Peter praying by the corpse of Dorcas; Paul over that of Eutychus. Read the promises to prayer. Consult the experience of all Christians in all ages. In prayer, our weakness takes hold on God’s strength. His gentleness makes us great.
IV. Lastly, GOD‘S GENTLENESS IS SEEN IN HIS MERCY TOWARDS SINNERS. The Bible, like Nature, has a severe side; a severity solely aimed against that which is man’s deadliest enemysin. It is possible so to read it that terror and judgment seem to overshadow mercy and love. This is to misread it utterly. It is to forget that the terrible judgments it recordssuch as the Deluge, the destruction of Sodom, the plagues of Egypt, the destruction of the sinful nations, the overthrow of Jerusalem, of Babylonstand as sure warnings, indispensably necessary, in the long thousands of years during which God has made the sun to shine and his rain to fall on the evil and unthankful, “not willing that any should perish” (Mat 5:45; 2Pe 3:9). Above all, the crowning revelation of God to man, for which the whole Old Testament law and history were the preparation, is “the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” He is “the Brightness of the Father’s glory, the express Image of his Person.” All power is his. That brightness might have blinded us; that power crushed us. But “though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.” His gentleness makes us great. He stoops to lift us to God. Jesus, the Man of sorrows, the Friend of sinners, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, weeping by the grave, bidding the weary come to him for rest, taking the children in his arms, washing his disciples’ feet, led as a lamb to the slaughter, praying for his murderers, bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, asks us, as he asked his apostles, “Have ye understood all these things?” And if our hearts can answer, “Yea, Lord,” he replies, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE
Psa 18:1-50
The conqueror’s song of praise and hope.
It is not our purpose, nor is it our province, in this section of the ‘Pulpit Commentary,’ to write homilies on specific texts; but rather to deal with this psalm (as we have done with others) as a wholefor it is a unityand to show how grand a basis it presents for the pulpit exposition of the provisions of “the everlasting covenant” to which allusion is made in the last verse of the psalm. The student and expositor might with advantage refer at the outset to Isa 4:3, “I will give you the sure mercies of David,” with the view of showing that the promises made to David do immeasurably transcend any merely personal reference; that they include all the blessings which come to us through him who, though David’s Son, was yet David’s Lord. There is no reason to doubt the Davidic authorship of the psalm. There are, moreover, more data than most psalms present, to aid us in deciding the approximate date of its composition. We have it recorded in 2Sa 22:4-51. This gives us one historic clue to its date. Besides, the tone of triumph which is heard throughout it was scarcely heard in the later days of David, after his great crime had darkened the remainder of his earthly life. 2Sa 22:19-24 could scarcely have been written after that catastrophe, even though it be urged that David writes rather of his administration as king than of his behaviour as a man. Regarding, then, the inscription at the head as showing us the occasion on which the psalm was first penned, and taking into account the prophetic far-reaching-ness of its closing words, we are called on to view it in a double aspectone historical, the other typical.
I. LET US SKETCH ITS CONTENTS AS HISTORICALLY REFERRING TO KING DAVID AND HIS CONQUESTS.
1. Here is a distinct reference to David as king. And while we should miss very much of the significance of the psalm, were we to omit the larger view to which we shall presently refer, yet, on the other hand, if we omit the strictly historical application, our use of the psalm will be strangely incomplete. As, without the historic setting, there would be no basis on which to set anything further, so, without the larger view, there would be no adequate superstructure set up upon that basis. Combine both, and the glory of the psalm stands forth as combining inspiration and revelation in the contents of this triumphant song (see 2Sa 22:50, where the remarkable, phrase occurs, “his king;” i.e. God’s king). David was God’s appointed king for Israel, and as such he tunes his harp for Jehovah’s praise.
2. With David as king, God had made a covenant. This is implied in 2Sa 22:50, where the mercies already granted are referred to as pledged “for evermore.”
3. David had been plunged into fierce conflict. (See 2Sa 22:4, 2Sa 22:5.) The study of David’s life will furnish us with a host of facts in this direction.
4. Conflict had driven him to earnest prayer. (2Sa 22:6.) Again and again had he passed through this experience (see Psa 34:6; Psa 138:3). The believer’s most piercing cries are sent upward to God, when he is being pierced by the sharpest arrows of affliction. How is it that we so often need the pressure of sorrow to quicken us from languor in prayer. Sad,that prayer should be forced out rather than drawn out]
5. Prayer had been followed by timely deliverance. This is set forth in poetry which is truly sublime (see 2Sa 22:7-16). ‘The Divine deliverance was seen:
(1) In girding the assailed one with strength (2Sa 22:39).
(2) In rescuing him from his pursuers (2Sa 22:16).
(3) In causing the foe to be prostrate under the conqueror’s feet (2Sa 22:40).
(4) In bringing forth the conqueror to liberty and gladness (2Sa 22:19).
6. Such deliverance led him to triumph in God. It may be asked, however, “Is not such joy in God rather of an inferior order, when it arises because God has done for us just what we wished?“ Perhaps so. But that is not a correct setting of the case before us. It is this: God had promised deliverance. David pleaded with God on the ground of the promise; and he found the great Promiser true. Hence the jubilation. When prayers that are presented on the basis of God’s promise are abundantly answered, gratitude may well burst forth in holy song (see 2Sa 22:1, 2Sa 22:2). What joy to a believer to read in the trials and reliefs of life a perpetual revelation of the loving-kindness of God!
7. The mercies of the past assure him of help in the future. (2Sa 22:50.) “For evermore.” Even so. So often has prayer been turned to praise, so often have we cast our burden at God’s feet, and borne a song away, that we cannot doubt him now. Rather will we sing, “Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.” God has helped us, and will “for evermore.”
II. LET US NOTE ITS CONTENTS TYPICALLY, AS FULFILLED AND FULFILLING IN ONE WHO IS OF DAVID‘S SEED, YET IS DAVID‘S LORD. Although it is easy to explain the greater part of the phrases of this psalm by incidents in David’s personal career, there are some which seem to tower above his or any man’s experience, and which can be adequately interpreted only as the psalm is regarded as having not only historical meaning, but also typical and predictive significance. How this manifests itself will appear, we trust, from the present outlines.
1. The kingship of David was not only personal, but also typical and prophetic. That such was the case may be gathered from the last verse of this psalm, and also from a study of the following passages: 2Sa 7:12-16; 2Sa 23:2-5; Psa 16:8-10; Psa 89:20-37; Psa 132:11-18; Psa 110:1-7.; Mat 22:41-45; Act 2:25-36; Act 13:32-37. That gracious redemptive work, which began with the calling out of Abraham (Isa 51:2, Hebrew), was being carried forward through David with a view to its fulfilment in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is seated on David’s throne. And the glory of King David is infinitely surpassed in David’s Lord; while the promises made to David and his seed are made over to all who are in blessed covenant relation to God through the Lord Jesus Christ (Isa 4:3).
2. The Lord Jesus and his saints are gone forth to war. (Act 13:34.) In a high and holy sense, as the kingship of David was typical, so also were his wars. One of the early visions of the seer of Patmos indicated this. He sees One who speaks of himself as the Root and Offspring of David (Rev 22:16) going forth conquering and to conquer (Rev 6:2); and, indeed, the entire Book of the Apocalypse might be called the ‘Book of the Wars of the Lord.’
3. The issue of the great conflict is already foreseen. The “for evermore” with which the psalm closes spans the whole of the present dispensation, and reaches forward to the time when Jesus shall have “all enemies beneath his feet.” This is beyond doubt. The everlasting covenant is “ordered in all things and sure.”
4. Ere this final victory, there will intervene many a struggle and many a rescue. While David’s Lord is on high, controlling the conflict, and administering all, the saints are in the midst of the struggle. As individuals they are called to “wrestle against the world-rulers of darkness.” Ministers of the gospel are to “endure hardness, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.” And the Church, as a whole, will have to undergo many a severe struggle. At times it may seem as if the cause were all but lost. But the great Commander will ensure his army all timely rescue as well as final triumph.
5. All the enemies of Christ will be put to shame. (Isa 60:12; Rom 16:20; Psa 18:40-42; also Psa 18:13, Psa 18:14, Psa 18:45.)
6. The great King will receive the homage of the peoples, and be exalted above all. (Act 13:43, Act 13:44.) The expression in Act 13:43, “the Head of the nations,” can be fully accomplished only in Christ as our victorious Lord. “All nations shall serve him.”
7. All who are now fighting on the King‘s side will share his victory. That which is the result for David is ensured also to “his seed” (Act 13:50). As our Lord is not alone in the war, so he will not be alone when the war is over. His triumph will be that also of those who are his.
8. The result of all will be a new disclosure of God. (Act 13:1, Act 13:2, Act 13:30, Act 13:31, Act 13:46, Act 13:47.) Just as David’s career was ever unfolding to him the faithfulness and love of God, so will the result of the Church’s conflict reveal to believers how great, how vast, was the scheme of mercy for men’s deliverance, and for the discomfiture of the powers of ill. The glory of God will stand out revealed in the day of final triumph, putting doubts and fears to fiight, as his love stands forth vindicated in the glorious result of all. And the oft-repeated Scripture phrase, “They shall know that I am the Lord,” will be fulfilled with a glory and grandeur beyond our utmost stretch of thought.
9. All this is now God‘s noblest prophecy, and will be hereafter the theme of the saints‘ noblest song. Psa 18:1-50, may well be regarded as finding its exposition, its supplement, in Rev 5:1-14. In the psalm we have God’s providences forecast; in the Apocalypse we have God’s providences reviewed. In the former David’s conquests are recited; in the latter the conquests of the Root of David. In the former we have the song of the victorious David; in the latter the new song of the victorious Seed of David. And by as much as David’s Lord is greater than David, by so much will the new song of the redeemed transcend the noblest flights of Hebrew praise.C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Psa 18:1-50
A retrospect of life.
The sailor tells of the perils of the sea; the traveller recounts the varied incidents of his career; and the soldier who has passed through battles and sieges can speak of hairbreadth escapes and moving accidents by flood and field. So it is with human life. We have the power of looking back; we can in imagination revive the past, and as scene after scene rises before us, our heart is thrilled with various emotions. And what we have experienced and recalled, we can set forth to others. The opening of this psalm is very touching and beautiful. It is as if the fire which had been burning within could no longer be restrained. The psalmist’s pent-up feelings must find an outlet. Before and beyond all, he must let his full heart speak. “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.” This may be regarded as the key-note, and it is touching how the psalmist dwells upon it, with variations, as if he could not let it go (Psa 18:2). Love to God was not an impulse, or the result of purposes, but the very habit and delight of his soul. Name after name, and epithet after epithet, is pronounced, each having its own peculiar associations, and each; not only expressing, but exciting his love the more. In this retrospect of life we have
I. THE PERILS ESCAPED. Various images are employed. We see how enemies increased and dangers thickened. In the midst of one terrible scene of tumult and storm, where all perils are gathered into one, the psalmist seems about to be engulfed. But in his helplessness, the hand of God from out of the cloud lays hold of him, and draws him forth from the great waters. His cry for help was not in vain. So let us remember with gratitude God’s goodness. There are some that dishonour the great memories of life, because they forget God. Let us acknowledge the hand of God, not only in the crises of our life, but also in the countless instances in which God has shielded us from dangers that we knew not, and saved us from evils and mischances of our daily life which else might have been our ruin.
II. THE PRINCIPLES EVOLVED. Trials are a test. There are certain principles which we should do well to hold fast, whatever comes.
1. God‘s Fatherly care. Relation stands. God does not change his love, though he may change his ways. Through all afflictions he cleaves to his people, and his people should cleave to him.
2. The efficacy of prayer. There are infinite resources with God, but they are only available to us by prayer. We may not be able to see how help can come, or relief may reach us in ways different from what we expected; but let us have faith in God’s Word. “Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee.” To this David and all the saints bear witness.
3. That all things are working to a perfect end. God is just, and will do justly. God is good, and he cannot will us aught but good. Let us trust him utterly. “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam 3:26; Rom 8:28).
III. THE BLESSINGS ENJOYED. Light shines in the darkness. Strength is evolved out of weakness. Progress is made in spite of opposition. Peace is enjoyed in the midst of trouble. Hope is cherished in the face of difficulties and sorrows. Victory is assured over every foe. And why? Because God is with his people (Psa 18:31-45).
IV. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS DEMANDED. (Psa 18:46, Psa 18:50.) The psalm concludes with a joyous burst of praise, in which, with brief touches, scenes previously described are recalled, and the rich fulness of the Divine goodness is set forth. There is personal thanksgiving for God’s love and mighty works. But there is more. There is the acknowledgment of God as the God of all fleshnot only of David and of Israel, but of all nations. And there is the grand hope expressed that, as God had brought the nations around within the dominion of Israel, so he would draw all the nations of the earth within the benign and blessed rule of Messiah (Rom 15:9). “In Christ, the Son of David, David’s fallen throne has lasting continuance; and in him everything that was promised to David’s seed has eternal truth and reality. According to its final prospect, the praise of Jahve, the God of David, his Anointed, is praise of the Father of Jesus Christ’ (Delitzsch).W.F.
Psa 18:35
A God-made man.
We often hear of what are called self-made men; but here is something nobler by fara God-made man. “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” We learn from this text that
I. MAN IS CAPABLE OF GREATNESS. At first, man was made great, for he was made in the image of God. But he sinned and fell. Still, the capacity remained. Hence there was misery. Ambition wrongly directed became a bane. Powers and cravings that rose above earthly things left the heart unsatisfied. To be great, man must be raised from his fallen state, and renewed in the spirit of his mind. Love is the spirit of greatness; service is its test, and power with man is its proof. He is the greatest who serves his brethren best in love.
II. THAT GOD IS ABLE TO MAKE MAN GREAT. It has been said that “some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them;” but this is a low and false view of greatness. It is of the earth, earthy. True greatness does not come from without, but from within; it is not a thing of circumstances, but of character; it does not depend upon the will of other men, but upon the spirit that dwelleth in us. We must be great in heart before we can be great in life. When God would make a man great, he not only gives him the right spirit, but submits him to a process of education and discipline. God has already made many great. Think of the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of martyrs, and the exceeding great multitude of the saints of every kindred and tongue; all these would acknowledge, with glad and grateful hearts, that they owed everything to God. Their confession would be, “We are his workmanship” (Eph 2:10; Rev 4:10).
III. GOD MAKES MEN GREAT BY HIS GENTLENESS. Force may overcome force, but it cannot win the heart. If we are dealt with in the way of terror and wrath, our tendency will be to resistance, a version, and alienation. Severity may be, at times, necessary, but it is not severity but love that conquers. Mark God’s gentleness:
1. In his manifestation of himself in Christ.
2. In the love of the Spirit in the Word.
3. In the gracious discipline of Providence.
We have in the life of David a beautiful example of the way in which God makes a man great. In the Gospels we have the true doctrine as to greatness (Mat 20:26), and illustrative facts of the most convincing kind. See how Matthew was called; how Zacchseus was raised to a nobler life; how Peter and the rest of the apostles were trained to humble and loving service in behalf of their fellow-men. These, and such as these, will be hailed as truly great men when kings and conquerors, and all the “laurelled Barabbases of history,” who have lived only for themselves, are forgotten.W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 18:1-50
The retrospect of a life: a sermon for the close of the year.
“In this magnificent hymn the royal poet sketches in a few grand outlines the history of his life. By God’s help he had subdued every enemy, and now, in middle life, looking back with devout thankfulness on the past, he sings this great song of praise to the God of his life.” Divisions of the psalm:
1. The introduction, setting forth all that Jehovah is to David (Psa 18:1-3).
2. The record of David’s sufferings and peril, and the mighty deliverance by which he was rescued (Psa 18:4-19).
3. The reason for this deliverance, in the character of God and the principles of his government (Psa 18:20-30).
4. The blessings which David had received in his life; his own preservation and that of his race; help and strength in battle, rule over all enemies (Psa 18:31-45).
5. Joyful thanksgiving and acknowledgment of all God’s mercies (Psa 18:46-50). The general subject of the psalm isThe retrospect of a life. The interest of such a retrospect depends on the following conditions:
I. WHETHER A MAN HAS HAD A HISTORY OR NOT. (Psa 18:43.) Anything to distinguish his life from the uneventful lives of the myriads who are born, pass through life, and die, and leave no trace behind them. But Moses and David, Paul and others, gave birth to history, and have mingled in the greatest affairs of a nation and of the world, and have much to think of and celebrate when they look hack. So of modern great men. They animated and created their opportunities. Have we made our lives in any way worth looking back upon? Domestic history. Thinkers as well as actors make history. What Christ has done.
II. WHETHER A MAN HAS SEEN GOD IN HIS LIFE OR NOT. (Psa 18:19, Psa 18:29, Psa 18:32, Psa 18:39.) To most men God has been only remotely related to their livesa power at the back of things generally, but not occupying every single event and experience of their existence. To David and all the great saints of the world, God was everything and everywhere in his life. God had anointed him for every work and every office; and every event was a manifestation of his love and righteousness and power. The consciousness of such a past is very grand and elevating. Our life is rich or poor accordingly. Sense of God in common life and duties.
III. WHETHER THE LIFE HAS BEEN RIGHTEOUS OR WICKED. (Psa 18:20.) We turn our eyes from a life that has been ill spent, and are filled with reproach and sorrow. If we know that we have lived a wicked life, we know that we are unworthy and guilty, and are self-condemned. Whether David wrote this psalm before or after his sin with Bathsheba, we cannot say; but he affirms his righteousness in the most emphatic way. “He has kept the ways of the Lord, and has not wickedly departed from him.” Such a retrospect is full of deep power and sense of triumph.
IV. WHETHER A MAN HAS ACHIEVED HIS OBJECTS OR NOT. (Psa 18:37, Psa 18:38, Psa 18:48.) David was a king, and had been in many wars and troubles; but he had, through God, triumphed over all his difficulties and foes. How many of us fail, or only partly succeed, in the things we aim at, because we have been profane and faithless!
V. WHETHER WE HAVE A FUTURE TO ANTICIPATE, AS WELL AS A PAST TO REMEMBER. To some the past is all; they have no future. But David had a bright future as well as a glorious past. “In thy presence is fulness of joy,” etc.S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 18.
David praiseth God for his manifold and marvellous blessings.
Title. lamnatseach leebed Jehovah ledavid. To the chief musician. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord.] After David had subdued his enemies, and was in peaceable possession of his kingdom, in grateful commemoration of the numerous favours of Divine Providence towards him, he composed this excellent psalm, that the memory of such goodness to him might be perpetuated throughout all generations. Bishop Hare has compared this psalm throughout with the other copy of it, 2 Samuel 22., and Dr. Kennicott has collated the Oxford Hebrew manuscripts of both in his second Dissertation upon the printed text. To these, therefore, we rather refer the reader, than fill our notes with the observation of minute differences. The psalm begins with a solemn acknowledgment of God, as David’s all-powerful protector and only refuge in danger, when he needed salvation from his enemies, Psa 18:1-3. He then describes the distresses that he had been in, Psa 18:4-5 and the wonderful manner by which God, in answer to his prayer, was pleased to deliver him; in which the terrors and dreadful effects of the divine vengeance are described by the sublimest images and loftiest expressions, so as to surpass all imagination: Psa 18:6-19. He next proceeds to the mention of his own integrity, in his adherence to God, and strict observance of the law of Moses; declaring, that God’s conduct towards himself, in thus rewarding him according to his righteousness, was agreeable to the settled method of his providence; and that all good men might expect from him the constant marks of his protection and favour: Psa 18:20-27. He then gratefully ascribes all his military power, strength, and prudence, his successes, victories, the enlargement of his dominions, and the destruction and submission of his enemies, to the favour and goodness of God: concluding the whole with a solemn thanksgiving for the mercy that God had shewn him, and the settlement of the crown and kingdom of Israel on his family for ever: Psa 18:28-50.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psalms 18
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,
1I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.
2The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
3I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised:
So shall I be saved from mine enemies.
4The sorrows of death compassed me,
And the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
5The sorrows of hell compassed me about:
The snares of death prevented me.
6In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried unto my God:
He heard my voice out of his temple,
And my cry came before him, even into his ears.
7Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations also of the hills moved
And were shaken, because he was wroth.
8There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,
And fire out of his mouth devoured:
Coals were kindled by it.
9He bowed the heavens also, and came down:
And darkness was under his feet.
10And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly:
Yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11He made darkness his secret place;
His pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed,
Hail stones and coals of fire.
13The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
And the Highest gave his voice;
Hail stones and coals of fire.
14Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
And he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
15Then the channels of waters were seen,
And the foundations of the world were discovered
At thy rebuke, O Lord,
At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
16He sent from above, he took me,
He drew me out of many waters.
17He delivered me from my strong enemy,
And from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
18They prevented me in the day of my calamity:
But the Lord was my stay.
19He brought me forth also into a large place;
He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
21For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22For all his judgments were before me,
And I did not put away his statutes from me.
23I was also upright before him,
And I kept myself from mine iniquity.
24Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful;
With an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
26With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure;
And with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
27For thou wilt save the afflicted people;
But wilt bring down high looks.
28For thou wilt light my candle:
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
29For by thee I have run through a troop;
And by my God have I leaped over a wall.
30As for God, his way is perfect:
The word of the Lord is tried:
He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
31For who is God save the Lord?
Or who is a rock save our God?
32It is God that girdeth me with strength,
And maketh my way perfect.
33He maketh my feet like hinds feet,
And setteth me upon my high places.
34He teacheth my hands to war,
So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
35Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation:
And thy right hand hath holden me up,
And thy gentleness hath made me great.
36Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,
That my feet did not slip.
37I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them:
Neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
38I have wounded them that they were not able to rise:
They are fallen under my feet.
39For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle:
Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
40Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies;
That I might destroy them that hate me.
41They cried, but there was none to save them:
Even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.
42Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind:
I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43Thou 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.
44As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me:
The strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
45The strangers shall fade away,
And be afraid out of their close places.
46The Lord liveth; and blessed be my Rock;
And let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47It is God that avengeth me,
And subdueth the people under me.
48He 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.
49Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen,
And sing praises unto thy name.
50Great deliverance giveth he to his king;
And sheweth mercy to his anointed,
To David, and to his seed for evermore.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The Title.The title, as far as the words of David, is like that of Psalms 36, the rest of it reminds us strongly of Deu 31:30, in part of Exo 15:1; Num 21:17; and is found likewise in 2 Samuel 22, where this Psalm appears in its historical connection, with some differences, yet essentially the same. In most cases the Psalm of our collection has the original and better readings (vid. below upon its relation to 2 Samuel 22). All this is in favor of the view that it was in one of those historical books from which the author of the book of Samuel made extracts. The use of this Psalm in Psalms 116, 144 is in favor of its great antiquity, as well as the use of Psa 18:30 in Pro 30:5, and Psa 18:33 in Hab 3:19. So many particulars in the contents and expressions of the Psalm agree with David, that only Olsh. and Hupf. think of a later author. There is likewise no valid reason for regarding the closing verse as a later addition (Hitzig against Hupf.). But being authentic, inasmuch as it presupposes the prophecy 2 Samuel 7, it refers to the latter period of Davids life, if not even to the time of his dying song, 2 Samuel 23. The prominent features of the subject agree with this, and do not allow us to mistake the retrospective view of a very important period of life, especially agitated by war and like events, but yet brought by grace to a satisfactory conclusion; and they lead to a period in which David, after having come forth victorious over domestic feuds, and as a king victorious likewise over other nations, and widely feared, on the one side praises the help afforded him by God as a sign of His condescension and favor, and on the other celebrates this as the reward of his devotion to Jehovah. Hitzig, therefore, refers, especially Psa 18:43-44, to the fact mentioned 2Sa 8:9 sq., that the son of a distant king brought gifts to David, when on his return from Aram, he had likewise conquered the Edomite, and stood at the end of his expedition of war; and when the shadows which the rebellion of Absalom, and the transgression committed with Bathsheba and on her account, threw upon his life and his soul, had not yet troubled the sunshine of his happiness. The mention of Saul after all his enemies renders him conspicuous as the most dangerous of all, who is the last to be forgotten, although his time had long since passed away. The form in which these facts are put together, shows that we have here a retrospect which extends over a long period, but which occurred on the day of the composition of the Psalm, and originated the tone of the song together with its sentiments. The name, servant of Jehovah, which David gives to himself in his prayers, Psa 19:11; Psa 19:13; Psa 144:10; 2Sa 7:20, and there in a general sense in which every pious Israelite might use it, is here in the title, as in Psalms 36, in the pregnant meaning of an official name and honorable title as Moses bears it, Deu 34:5; Jos 24:29; the prophets, Jer 7:25 and elsewhere, on account of their historical position as the specially commissioned instruments of God; and David likewise has received it being recognized as such by the mouth of Jehovah, Psa 89:3; Psa 89:20. A parallel to its use in the title of several Psalms is found in its use at the beginning of most of the epistles of the apostles.
Its Contents and their Arrangement.First, there is an expression of tender resignation to Jehovah (Psa 18:1), the Protector and Lord, consequently sought and never sought in vain (Psa 18:2); then follows the principal clause (Psa 18:3), the unfolding of which forms the essential subject of the Psalm, namely: the thankful confession, that this Jehovah has delivered the Psalmist from his enemies in answer to prayer. The greatness of the danger is illustrated (Psa 18:4-5); the prayer is warmly mentioned and its having been heard (Psa 18:6). His coming to help in the earthquake and tempest (not merely figurative as Hupf. contends) is magnificently and surprisingly described (Psa 18:7-15); the deliverance by the hand of God in the moment of the greatest danger is thankfully recognized as a proof of His good pleasure (Psa 18:16-19), to reward the pious conduct of His servant (vers 2025), which is founded in the moral nature of God Himself (Psa 18:24-27), and gives the reason and pledge of this support of the Psalmists life (Psa 18:28-29). Then the Psalmist begins to praise Jehovah as the only true God and faithful Helper (Psa 18:30-31). This is interrupted in form by the retrospective review (although there is actually a praising God) which the Psalmist makes with reference to his repeated experiences of the assistance of God in domestic feuds, and in foreign wars (Psa 18:32-45). It is then, however, taken up again directly, and brought to a satisfactory conclusion in two strophes, first, the summing up of thanksgiving for the abundance of help afforded as just described (Psa 18:46-48), and then in vows of thanksgiving which look far beyond the bounds of Israel (Psa 18:49-50), in faith in the Messianic promise and destiny given to David and his seed.
Its Relation to 2 Samuel 22The older view maintained by Hengst. was that the origin of the double recension of this Psalm of thanksgiving ( instead of , which is used elsewhere in titles) was to be referred to David himself, and indeed so that 2 Samuel 22 is a later but independent variation, with expressions which were chosen, emphatic, and at times explanatory. Gramberg supposes an intentional revision of the text of the Psalm, but attempts (in Winer, Exeget. Stud.I. 1 to show, by a close comparison, that 2 Samuel 22 affords throughout easier and worse readings, by a different hand from that of the author. On the other hand, Von Lengerke (Comment. Crit., 1833), sought to show that the better readings are found now in the one, now in the other, that the deviations were not intentional, but accidental, occasioned by oral tradition, and the carelessness of the copyist; and that both texts have about the same value; that the orthography, however, on account of the less frequent use of the vowel signs, bears an ancient character. The latter is explained by Ewald from the use of an ancient MS. Hupfeld shows that even in the orthography no sure principle can be carried out, that most of the variations in 2 Samuel 22 do not at all deserve the preference sometimes given to them, and derives them from careless copying and tradition. Hitzig now again maintains the independence of both recensions, neither of which gives the original pure text entirely, yet he supposes that the form of the text of Psalms 18 is for the most part preferable, and explains it thus: That the Psalms incorporated in a historical book share the fate of all historical texts; the respect for their poetical form, rythm and movement very soon yielded and disappeared before the care for the simple sense, not to speak of the fact that the text was afterwards accented as prose, whilst in the book of Psalms it was accented as poetry. Delitzsch thinks that the annals of David (dibr ha yamin) were the source of 2 Samuel 22, in which the Psalm had been incorporated, and from which likewise the historian derived much besides. He agrees with Hupfeld, but remarks that 2 Samuel 22 shows the license of popular language. Olsh. finds in this evidence of a free interpolation with literary productions before the close of the Canon.
Str. I. Psa 18:1. I love Thee affectionately [A. V., I will love thee]. is elsewhere the only word used in Hebrew to express the love of men to God and the word used here, , is found only in the Piel and in the sense of pity. But this word in the Aramaic has in the kal the meaning of love, and Aramaic expressions are not infrequent in the more ancient as well as in the later Hebrew writings. The proposal of Hitzig, therefore, to correct the by and change the vowel points, is unnecessary. The sense, which would be: I will extol Thee, would be very appropriate at the beginning of a song of praise and thanksgiving. But to doubt of an expression of love to God in the mouth of David, because among the ancient Hebrews the fear of God was alone proper, love only after Deu 6:5, is connected with a criticism of sacred history and its historical monuments, which condemns itself by its unavoidable necessity of doing violence to the text. In the parallel passage, 2 Samuel 22, this verse has manifestly fallen off, by shortening, whilst a compensation has been made by an enlargement of the next verse, which the accents then divide into two verses, by the addition, after the word fortress, of the clause: my refuge, my deliverer, who delivered me from violence. Likewise in the first line of this verse my deliverer is used as Psa 144:2, and in the second line: God (Elohe) my rock as Psa 18:46.
Psa 18:2. [There is in this verse a heaping up of metaphors, vid.Psalms 31; Psalms 71; Psalms 144 Perowne: The images, which are most of them of a martial character, are borrowed from the experience of Davids life, and the perpetual struggles in which he was engaged. Some of them were suggested by the natural configuration of Palestine. Amid the rocks and fastnesses of his native land, and the high tower perched on some inaccessible crag, he with his little band of outlaws, had often found a safe hiding-place from the wrath of Saul.My Rock.Alexander: As the rock () of the first clause suggests the idea of concealment and security, so the rock () of the second clause [A. V., My strength] suggests that of strength and immobility. The figure is borrowed from Deu 32:4, and reappears in Psa 92:15. Compare Isaiahs phrase, rock of ages (Isa 26:4), and Jacobs phrase, the stone of Israel (Gen 49:24.14My stronghold (A.V., fortress).Hupf.: is in general a strong and not easily accessible place, affording refuge and safety; a mountain, a cave, a wilderness, etc. Comp. 1Sa 23:14; 1Sa 23:19; 1Sa 24:1; Jdg 6:2; Isa 33:16; Job 39:28.My shield (A. V., buckler, a species of shield). Vid.Psa 3:4 and Gen 15:1, where God calls Himself Abrams shield.C. A. B.]Horn of my salvation.The horn is frequently the figure of strength and victorious power, yet the reference here is not to attack, but to protection. Hence the figure is not borrowed from the horn of the buffalo (most interpreters), or indeed of the summits of mountains [called horns in many languages, e.g. Matterhorn, Faulhorn, etc.C. A. B.], but of the altar,1Ki 2:28 (Hitzig).15[My height (A. V., high tower)Alexander: The Hebrew word properly denotes a place so high as to be beyond the reach of danger. It is a high rock or crag affording a safe refuge, vid.Psa 9:9.C. A. B.]
Many interpreters, with the ancient translations (likewise Maurer, Hengst., Hupf.), regard Jehovah and Eli as subjects, the names which follow each time as His predicates, seven of which would thus be contained in Psa 18:2, to which Hengst. attaches some importance. Most recent interpreters, however (Hitzig and Delitzsch likewise), find as in all the names, so likewise in Jehovah and Eli, amplifications of the suffix of the verb, which begins the Psalm, yet not as its real object., but as taking up the vocative of the first line. Only Hitzig would change Eli into =my Redeemer, according to Ps. 19:15.
Str. II. Psa 18:3. Jehovah is not a vocative in this verse (Storr), but in apposition to the words placed before for emphasis: the one who is praised, that is, who is the subject of the praises of Israel, Psa 48:1; Psa 96:4; Psa 113:3; Psa 145:3; perhaps the glorious One (Hupf.), that is, He to whom glory and majesty is ascribed. The imperfects are not to be taken as futures (many ancient interpreters), since the following strophe shows that the reference is to praising God on account of Divine help already experienced; but hardly as preterites with reference to a previous special deliverance (Hitzig). It is true, they are thus used frequently from ver 6 onwards, but they depend upon the perfects which occur from Psa 18:4 on. If now these words which immediately follow are found to be a recapitulation of many particular experiences, the description of which makes use of the tempest, taken from other theophanes only as a figurative illustration (Ewald, Hengst., Hupf., Delitzsch); then the imperfects are taken as indefinite designations of the past. In this not unusual poetical use they occur without doubt in Psa 18:20; Psa 18:28 sq. of this Psalm. But there it treats really of a recapitulation of particular and similar features with a retrospect of the moral action of the Psalmist and of the experiences made by him in consequence of this. Yet here the entire description seems to refer to a particular case, only it does not follow that Psa 18:3 should be put at the same time as Psa 18:6 a. The motto of the entire Psalm appears first, namely, in the form of a general clause prepared by the predicate used in calling upon Jehovah. But it is not necessary, on this account, to translate with G. Baur: praised be Jehovah, I cry.
Str. III. Psa 18:4. Bands of death.The Sept. and the Rabbins translate sorrows [A. V.]; and 2 Samuel 22, where the clause begins with then [A. V., when], another word is used = waves. The parallel clauses agree very well with this, the verb not so well; and our reading is likewise in Psa 116:3, and is likewise very ancient (Calvin, Hupfeld).Brooks of evil [A. V., floods of ungodly men]. literally=not to go up, is generally but not exclusively used (Hengst.) for moral unthriftiness, as unworthiness; and is then taken by most interpreters as a personification of ungodly enemies and their attacks, by some (Jerome, Luther, J. H. Mich., Stier) is understood directly of the person of the devil, according to 2Co 6:15, comp. 2Sa 23:6; but the physical signification (Ruding.), partly recognized by Calv. and without doubt in Nah 1:11; Psa 41:8 (Hupf.), is recognized by most recent interpreters as here parallel with death and the lower world, yet not mythologically, the lower world with its streams (J. H. Mich.), but as abysmal evil and perdition.16
[Psa 18:5. Bands of the under-world (A. V., sorrows of hell).For the explanation of Sheol or under-world vid.Psa 6:5.Snares of death.De Wette: Snares of death are figurative of the danger of death; for slings and the like are frequent figures of danger and waylaying (Job 18:9-10; Psa 64:5; Psa 140:5).Prevented me.Barnes: The word here used in Hebrew, as our word prevent did originally, means to anticipate, to go before. The idea here is that those snares had, as it were, suddenly rushed upon him, or seized him. They came before him in his goings, and bound him fast.C. A. B.]17
[Psa 18:6. In my distress.Under the experience of the brooks of evil, the snares of death and the bands of the under-world mentioned, probably referring to the anguish of the most trying periods of his persecution by Saul.And cried.The anxiety of soul demanding immediate relief expresses itself in the cry.Temple.Perowne: Not the temple or tabernacle on Mt. Zion, but the temple in heaven wherein God especially manifests His glory, and where He is worshipped by the heavenly hostsa place which is both temple and palace.And my cry came before him.Barnes: It was not intercepted on the way, but came up to Him.Into his ears.Indicating that He certainly heard it. The cry of the suffering Psalmist, in peril of death, speeds its way with more than the speed of light, to the palace of Jehovah, to His very presence, into His very ears, and the response is given with the same wonderful directness by Jehovah. Perowne: The deliverance is now pictured as a magnificent theophany. God comes to rescue His servant as He came of old to Sinai, and all nature is moved at His coming. Similar descriptions of the Divine manifestation, and of the effects produced by it, occur Psa 68:7-8; Psa 77:14-20; Exodus 19; Jdg 5:4; Amo 9:5; Mic 1:3; Habakkuk 3; but the image is nowhere so fully carried out as here. Davids deliverance was, of course, not really accompanied by such convulsions of nature, by earthquake, and fire, and tempest, but his deliverance, or rather his manifold deliverances, gathered into one as he thinks of them, appear to him as a marvellous proof of the Divine Power, as verily effected by the immediate presence and finger of God, as if He had come down in visible form to accomplish them. The image is carefully sustained throughout. First, we have the earthquake, and then, as preluding the storm, and as herald of Gods wrath, the blaze of the lightning (Psa 18:7-8). Next, the thick gathering of clouds, which seem to touch and envelop the earth; the wind, and the darkness which shrouds Jehovah riding on the cherubim (911). Lastly, the full outburst of the storm, the clouds parting before the presence and glory of Jehovah, and pouring upon the earth the burden with which they were heavythe thunder, and the lightning, and the hail,the weapons of Jehovah by which, on the one hand, He discomfits His enemies, and, on the other, lays bare the depths of the sea, and the very foundations of the world, that He may save His servant who trusts in Him (1116).C. A. B.]
Str. IV. Psa 18:7. Foundations of the mountains [A. V., hills].2 Samuel 22 has instead of the earth, the heavens, and it is generally understood of the mountains as the pillars of the heavens (Job 26:11). [Jehovah is represented as moved, by the cry of the suffering Psalmist, to anger, His wrath is kindled against His enemies with the brooks of evil and the snares of death. The earth and its foundations shake under the emotions of Divine wrath.Smoke in his nostrils.Hupfeld: Wrath is poetically represented as the nose snorting, taken from the action of an angry man (Calv., Geier), or rather beast, as a horse, lion (Rosenm.), comp. particularly the description of the crocodile, Job 41:11 sq.; as then that is indeed the proper meaning of (from snort, that is, breathe through the nose), and hence likewise among the Greeks and Romans the nose was the seat and organ of wrath. Here it is increased to smoke. as it is often said of the wrath of God, , His nose (or His wrath) smokes, Psa 74:1; Psa 80:4; Deu 29:19. This is connected with fire (as Isa 65:5), the usual figure of wrath in all languages, and here indeed from His mouth, parallel with the smoke in the nose, as with the crocodile, Job 41:13.Burning coals blazed from it, that is, from the mouth, parallel with fire out of His mouth devoured (Hupfeld, Delitzsch, et al.), not as the A. V., coals were kindled by it.Delitzsch: When God is angry, according to the Old Testament ideas, the power of wrath present in Him is kindled, and flames up, and breaks forth. The snorting of wrath may therefore be called the smoke of the fire of wrath (Psa 74:1; Psa 80:3); smoke is as the breath of fire and the violent hot breath, which is drawn in and out through the nose of the wrathful (comp. Job 41:12), is as smoke, which curls upward from the internal fire of wrath. The fire of wrath devours out of the mouth. that is, flames forth from the mouth, devouring all that it lays hold of, with men in angry words, with God in fiery powers of nature which correspond with His wrath and serve it, especially the fire of the lightning. It is first of all the lightning which is here compared to the flaming up of glowing coals. The power of the wrath of God, realizing itself, becomes a flame, and before its fire is entirely discharged, announces itself in lightnings. The reference in this strophe is to the approaching storm with its distant flashes of lightning.C. A. B.]
Str. V. Psa 18:9. [He bowed the heavens and came down.The storm is near at hand, the dark masses of clouds descend and seem almost to touch the earth, vid.Psa 144:5; Exo 19:18; Isa 64:1. Parallel with this is the second clause.Dark clouds under his feet.Comp. Nah 1:3 sq., where the clouds are called the dust of His feet.C. A. B.]
Psa 18:10. [He rode upon the cherub and did fly.As in the preceding verse the presence of Jehovah in the dark and overhanging storm-cloud is represented by His agency in bowing the clouds and treading them down to the earth, so in this verse His presence in the strong wind which precedes the outbreaking of the storm is represented by His riding upon the cherub. The cherub is used here as a collective for the plural. The cherubim are composite creatures, embracing in one the forms of the ox, the lion, the eagle and man; they represent in the unity of their conception the entire creation in its most perfect form as the servant of Jehovah, through the faces and forms of the four most prominent and characteristic creatures which reflect the attributes and glory of God. They are represented as the bearers of the throne of Jehovah (Ezekiel 1, 10), the guardians of Eden (Gen 3:24), and the most holy place and the mercy-seat. They fly in a whirlwind and with flaming fire and lightning (Eze 1:4; Eze 1:13), and the noise of their wings is like the noise of great waters (Eze 1:24), the glory of God is above the cherubim which form His living chariot.18C. A. B.]
Soar on the wings of the wind [A. V., fly].2 Samuel 22 has instead of soar a weaker word, He appeared [A. V., was seen], yet not in all MSS.; perhaps it originated merely by a slip of the pen, changing into . [This clause is parallel with the preceding; the wind which accompanies the chariot of the cherubim is represented as winged. As Jehovah rides upon the cherubic car, He soars, borne by the wings of the wind, vid.Psa 104:3; Isa 66:15; Nah 1:3. Hupfeld, with Calvin, thinks that the cherub here represents the storm wind, or the clouds; Riehm, that we have here an indication of the original meaning of the cherub, but it is better to regard the clauses as parallel yet distinct in idea, Jehovah rides upon the cherubic chariot as the God of the Covenant, and soars on the wings of the wind as the God of nature.C. A. B.]
Psa 18:11. He made darkness His veil [A. V., His secret place.Barnes: The word rendered secret placemeans properly a hiding; then something hidden, private, secret. Hence it means a covering, a veil. Comp. Job 22:14; Job 24:15. Here the meaning seems to be that God was encompassed with darkness. He had, as it were, wrapped Himself in night, and made His abode in the gloom of the storm.Round about him belongs to covering and not to pavilion, as A. V.His tent is parallel with veil and dependent upon the same verb, not with the copula, as in A. V. (His pavilion were). C. A. B.].2 Samuel 22 has, instead of darkness of waters [A. V., dark waters], a word, which has originated perhaps by a slip of the pen, to which according to the Arabic we can only give the meaning of collection of waters. 2 Samuel 22 has likewise: He made darkness tabernacles round about Him, which is a weakening of the idea of the Psalm. [This verse is a description of the storm in its momentary lull, before bursting forth. The angry Jehovah stays His cherubic car, veils Himself with the dark clouds, and piles up the darkness of waters and the thick clouds like a tent in which He meant to dwell.C. A. B.]
Psa 18:12. [Hupfeld: Finally the storm of Divine wrath breaks forth and discharges itself in thunder, hail and lightnings, etc., on the heads of the wicked.C. A. B ] The reading of 2 Samuel 22, from the brightness before Him coals of fire burned [A. V., Through the brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled] is easier. Many interpreters likewise would blot out the strange word His clouds, and translate: hail and coals of fire went forth, or rushed forth (Hupf.). If this remain, our translation, after Hupf. and Delitzsch, is the best recommended: From the brightness before him passed through his clouds hail and coals of fire.For the interpretations: vanished (Alex., Jerome, Calv.), or broke up, so that hail and coals of fire went forth (Luther, Geier, J. H. Mich., Rosenm.), or that the last words are to be taken as an outcry of astonishment (Hengst., Ewald, Olsh.), are doubtful and find no support in the parallel words in Psa 18:13 (G. Baur), as if the repeated breaking forth of the lightning would be pictured by the restoration of those words which had been taken away. For in Psa 18:13, these words not only are lacking in 2 Samuel 22, but likewise in the Sept. of our Psalm; they disturb the structure of the verse, and find no support (as Hengst. contends) in the reference to Exo 9:23, where the connection of words is different. If, however, their dependence upon the verb, sent forth [A. V., gave], is maintained, then the poetry of that interpretation is lost. [The A. V., At the brightness (that was) before Him His thick clouds passed, hail (stones) and coals of fire, does not give a good sense. The idea is that Jehovah discharged through the darkness that veiled His brightness the weapons of His wrath, hail and coals of fire. Comp. the description of the destruction of the Canaanites, Jos 10:11, fire mingled with hail plaguing the Egyptians, Exo 9:24, so also in Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30.C. A. B.]
Psa 18:13. Instead of in the heavens,2 Samuel 22 has the reading: from heaven, which most interpreters prefer.
Psa 18:14. The suffix m [them, object of the verb, scattered and discomfited] refers not to the arrows and lightnings (ancient interpreters), but to the enemies, who are not named, it is true, yet are before the mind of the Psalmist. Ewald refers it to the waters which are directly mentioned, on account of the easy grammatical connection. Instead of He shot (or He threw, which meaning has in Gen 49:23), many interpreters read here, in place of the verb, the well-known adverb rab=many, in abundance.
[Str. VI. Psa 18:15. This storm of Divine wrath not only scattered and discomfited the enemies of the Psalmist as the Canaanites before Joshua, and the Egyptians before Moses, but likewise burst in fury upon the earth, laying bare the beds of the waters, as of the Red Sea and the Jordan, for the passage of the Israelites, disclosing the foundations of the world. This was accomplished by the strong wind, the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils.C. A. B.]
[Str. VII. Psa 18:16. The Psalmist here leaves the figure of the Theophany and returns to the more simple ideas of Strophe III. He realizes once more his own personal danger, in peril of death and exposed to the brooks of evil and the bands of Sheol. Jehovah reached from aboveHe stretched forth His hand (not as in A. V., He sent from above), He laid hold of me (A. V., took me, not so good), and drew me up out of great waters, that is, the brooks of evil, which have well nigh overwhelmed the Psalmist and snared him in their bands of death. Nothing can be more simple and touchingly beautiful than this description of his deliverance. Alexander supposes a reference here to the historical fact and the typical meaning of the deliverance of Moses, and a kind of claim upon the part of David to be regarded as another Moses.
Psa 18:17. The Psalmist now leaves his figures of speech and states in simple terms that Jehovah delivered him from his strong enemy. This strong enemy was probably Saul.
Psa 18:18. They fell upon me in the day of my calamity (A. V., prevented me, incorrect); but Jehovah was his support; they could not overcome Him.
Psa 18:19. Large place.He brought him forth from his straits of trouble, and gave him ample room to recover himself and extend himself to his hearts content, vid.Psa 4:1.C. A. B.]
[Str. VIII. Psa 18:20-23. This strophe gives the reason why Jehovah delighted in him and delivered him. His profession of personal integrity is like that of the previous Psalm (Psa 17:3). Perowne: The words are, in truth, words of child-like, open-hearted simplicity, not of arrogant boastfulness. They are not inconsistent with the latter period of his life. David in his life was guilty of great sins and suffered Divine chastisements and confessed that he was receiving the penalty of his crimes, yet in this Psalm, where he is praising the deliverances of his God, he likewise shows that these were testimonies of Divine favor to him and of approval of his uprightness and integrity. If in other Psalms David is sincere in his confessions under the experience of Divine chastisement, he is likewise sincere in this Psalm in his professions under the experience of Divine deliverances. The penitential Psalms stand for themselves and the Psalms which assert innocence and uprightness stand for themselves, there is no inconsistency if we recognize the difference of experience in the godly man as expressed in these two classes of Psalms. Delitzsch: In this strophe Psalms 18 has the same tone as Psalms 17. and for this reason it follows it. Compare the testimony of David himself 1Sa 26:23 sq., the testimony of God 1Ki 14:8, the testimony of history 1Ki 15:5; 1Ki 11:4.C. A. B.]
Str. IX. Psa 18:25. 2 Samuel 22 has instead of man,hero [A. V. does not distinguish, but has man in both versionsC. A. B.]. The other, differences in this section are still less important and relate only to grammatical forms or differences in orthography. [Barnes: From the particular statement respecting the Divine dealings with himself the Psalmist now passes to a general statement (suggested by what God had done for him) in regard to the general principles of the Divine administration. That general statement is, that God deals with men according to their character; or that He will adapt His providential dealings to the conduct of men. They will find Him to be such towards them as they have shown themselves to be towards Him. Delitzsch: The truth here expressed, is not that the idea which man forms of God is constantly the mirror of his soul, but that the dealing of God with men is the mirror of the relation in which God puts Himself to him.C. A. B.]
Psa 18:27. In 2 Samuel 22 is either: Thine eyes Thou didst let fall upon the proud; or, Thine eyes (look) upon the proud, (whom) Thou dost humiliate [A. V., Thine eyes (are) upon the haughty (that) Thou mayest bring (them) down].
Str. X. Psa 18:28. Thou makest light my lamp [A. V., Thou wilt light my candle. The Hebrew imperfects are not here futures but indefinite designations of continued and incomplete action.C. A. B.]. Lamp not=light=happiness (the majority of interpreters), but burning lamp, the putting out of which shows the desolation of the tabernacle, the abandonment of the house (Harmar, Beob. aus dem Orient, I. 180 sq.), and therefore is frequently used as figurative of destruction and ruin, as well of the individual (Job 18:6; Job 21:17; Jer 25:10; Pro 13:9; Pro 20:20; Pro 24:20), as particularly of his race (2Sa 21:17); as the continual burning and care of the lamp serves as a figure of the preservation of life and the condition of prosperity (Job 29:3; Pro 31:18), and is especially applied to the continuance of the house of David (1Ki 11:36; 1Ki 15:4; 2Ki 8:19; Psa 132:17; De Wette, Hupf., Delitzsch). This passage is abbreviated in 2 Samuel 22, and so used that Jehovah Himself is called the lamp of David. In 2 Samuel 22 my God is lacking in the second member of the verse.
[Psa 18:29. For by thee I run upon troops, and by my God I leap over walls (A. V., I have run through a troop. have I leaped over a wall).The imperfects are not preterites, but are indefinite, as generally in this Psalm (vid. notes on Psa 18:3). Barnes: The word troop here refers to bands of soldiers, or hosts of enemies. The word rendered run through [A. V.] 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 secure a victory. The allusion is to the wars in which he had been engaged. The second clause carries on the idea of the first, he attacks the troops of his enemies, he breaks their ranks, he rushes upon their fortified towns, he mounts and leaps over their walls and captures them. Comp. Joe 2:7. This had been his experience of the gracious help of his God who had enabled him to do this.C. A. B.]
[Str. XI. Psa 18:30. Delitzsch: [(As for) God, A. V.] is nom. abs. as , Deu 32:4; this ancient Mosaic expression sounds here again as 2Sa 7:22, in the mouth of David. The article of points to the God historically revealed. His way is faultless and unblamable. His word is , not drossy ore, but pure gold, freed from dross, Psa 12:7. He who withdraws himself in Him, the God of promise, is shielded from all dangers. Pro 30:5 is borrowed from this passage.
Psa 18:31. Hupfeld: Jehovah alone is true God, that is, Who can and will help. This is parallel with , rock (comp. Psa 18:2), here used at once, as the name of God, as Deu 32:4; Deu 32:15; Deu 32:18; Deu 32:30 sq., 37; Isa 44:8, etc.; frequently as a clause in contrast with the vain idols, especially Deu 32:31; 1Sa 2:2; but likewise with all the false props and idle hopes on which man gladly builds instead of on God only (Calv.).C. A. B.]
[Str. XII. Psa 18:32. The God who girdeth me with strength. (A. V. (It is) God that). The reference is to our God of Psa 18:31. Alexander: The imparting of a quality or bestowing of a gift is in various languages described as clothing. Thus the English words endue and invest have almost lost their original meaning. The figure of girding is peculiarly significant, because in the oriental dress the girdle is essential to all free and active motion.My way perfect.Hupfeld: Manifestly is correlative of the same phrase, Psa 18:30 applied to God, as the effect of it and thereby mediately the same as, even, easy, free, that is a successful way.
Psa 18:33. He maketh my feet like hinds feet. Barnes: 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.19And setteth me upon my high places. Alexander: My heights, those which are to be mine by right of conquest and by Divine gift. The heights may be the natural highlands of the country or the artificial heights of its fortified places.20
Psa 18:34. He teacheth my hands to war.Barnes: The skill which David had in the use of the bow, the sword, or the spear, all of which depends on the hands,he ascribes entirely to God.And mine arms bend the bow of brass.(A. V., incorrectly, So that a bow of steel is broken by my arms.) Perowne: , not (as Kimchi) Niph. of is broken but Piel of , to press down and so to bend, so Hupf., De Wette, Ewald, Delitzsch, Alexander, et al. Perowne: Here the bending of a bow of brass (or bronze, rather, , which seems to have been tempered, and rendered pliable like steel with us), indicates his great strength (comp. Job 20:24.) In Homer, Ulysses leaves behind him at Ithaca a bow which no one but himself could bend.C. A. B.]
Str. XIII. Psa 18:35. Condescension,[A. V., gentleness]. The word always means, merely the bowing of ones self and not the humiliation of another. Therefore the translation of Luther, after the Sept., Vulg., If Thou humiliatest me, Thou makest me great, is inadmissible. It is true this word, which expresses the idea of humility (Pro 15:32; Pro 22:4) is used with reference to God only in this passage; since however in Psa 45:4 it denotes the corresponding attribute of the condescension of the king, it is unnecessary to explain, with Hitzig, after the Arabic; Thy care, favor; or with Olsh. to correct with that is thy help. The reading 2 Sam. is hardly to be explained as if the merely quiesces (Kimchi); still less is the meaning to be forced by altering the vowel points (J. H. Mich., Hengst.) to that of humility (Sept., Pesch., Theod., Symm.); but to translate, there, with the Chald., Thy hearing [A. V. does not distinguish but uses the same word, gentleness.C. A. B.]
[Psa 18:36. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me.Barnes: The idea here is, Thou hast made room for my feet, so that I have been enabled to walk without hindrance or obstruction. So in Psa 31:8, Thou hast set my feet in a large room. The idea is, that he was before straitened, compressed, hindered in his goings, but that now all obstacles had been taken out of the way, and he could walk freely.That my feet did not slip. Margin, mine ankles. The Hebrew word means properly a joint; small joint; especially the ankle. The reference here is to the ankle, the joint that is so useful in walking, and that is so liable to be sprained or dislocated. The meaning is that he had been enabled to walk firmly; that he did not limp.C. A. B.]
[Str. XIV. Psa 18:37-40. The consequences of Divine assistance were the subjugation and destruction of his enemies. Delitzsch: Thus fighting in Gods strength, with Gods weapons and under Gods assistance he beat, subjected, annihilated all his enemies in domestic and foreign wars. According to Hebrew syntax, all this is retrospective.
Psa 18:40. And my enemies, Thou gavest to me the back.(A. V. Thou hast also given me the neck of mine enemies. Hupfeld: ., is elsewhere intransitive (2Ch 29:6.)= , (Jos 7:8; Jos 7:12) to turn the back=terga dare, vertere, flee; is here causative to make the enemies backs that is fugitives as Exo 23:27, and in like sense Psa 21:12. to make backs: necks, backs,=present their necks or backs to the pursuers, who see them only on this side and thus only as necks and backs. Comp. Jer 18:17. I will see them as backs and not as face, that is behind and not before. So Gesen., De Wette, Delitzsch, Perowne, Alexander, et al. Barnes, however, prefers the A. V. and understands it complete subjection,as when the conqueror places his foot on the necks of his foes.C. A. B.
Str. XV. Psa 18:41. 2 Samuel 22 has, they looked [instead of, they cried]. [Delitzsch: Their prayer to their idols and even to Jehovah forced by necessity, because it was directed to Him for their own interests and too late, was vain.C. A. B.]
Psa 18:42. 2 Samuel 22 has: dust of the earth [instead of dust before the wind]; and in the second member again: I did stamp them. [Barnes: As the fine dust is driven by the wind, so they fled before me. There could be no more striking illustration of a discomfited army flying before a conqueror.As the dust in the streets.Barnes: The idea is, that he poured them out, for so the Hebrew word means, as the dirt or mire in the streets. As that is trodden on, or trampled down so they, instead of being marshalled for battle, were wholly disorganized, scattered and left to be trodden down as the most worthless object is.C. A. B.]
Str. XVI. Psa 18:43. Strifes of the peopleThis is referred by Hengst., Hitzig, Delitzsch, to the internal conflicts with reference to Saul and Absalom, and they then explain in the same way the reading 2 Samuel 22= my people; whilst Olsh. supplies the thought, with other nations; and the Rabbins regard this form as plural. Many likewise regard the of the Psalm as plural, which however with this interpretation is best regarded as collective (Hupf.) But the goyim in the following member favors the first mentioned interpretation, as likewise in the third member the acquires by the following relative clause, the closer meaning of people previously unknown to the Psalmist, as foreign and distant. In the first member the construction is like Isa 26:2; Isa 49:8; 2 Samuel 22 has [in the second clause]: thou hast kept me as, or thou preservedst me to be, the head of the heathen.[Head of the heathen. Hupfeld. It is questionable whether this is historical of the subjection of some foreign nations, or whether it is not rather in ideal universality=sovereignty of the world, as Psalms 22. It is probable that it has rather a historical reference. This is more in keeping with the entire Psalm as retrospective.C. A. B.]
Psa 18:44. At the hearing of the ear.This is regarded by most interpreters as in contrast to their own beholding (Job 42:5,)=they heard, without seeing me, or as soon as the sound of command from the distance had come to them, or better, as soon as they heard the report of the name and victories of David, (Deu 2:25; Jos 6:27; Jos 9:9 : Isa 23:5). On account of the mention of obedience, which immediately follows, others (Stier, Hupf., Camph), regard the expression as like the German, at the word of, with reference to the command they had received and its prompt execution. Sachs supposes a repetition of the previous word and explains: They only know me by the knowledge of the ear.Sons of foreign parts dissembled to me.[A. V. Strangers shall submit themselves. Alexander: Sons of outlands will lie.C. A. B]. The humble expressions of the conquered, which have been forced, are often mentioned as lies, hypocrisy and flattery.
Psa 18:45. The sons of foreign parts faded away.The victorious power of David has struck them as a fiery wind (Isa 40:7), therefore they wither away.Trembled [A. V., be afraid]. It follows from Mic 7:17, comp. Hos 11:11, that must have the meaning of tremble. It is likewise found in cognate dialects. The word used in 2 Samuel 22 instead of this which many MSS. and ancient translations likewise have in the Psalm, means, gird themselves, which, however, is an unusual expression of equipping oneself for flight. The meaning, limp (Sept. Vulg., Pesch., Kimchi), however, occurs in cognate dialects and is accepted by Hitzig.
Str. XVII. Psa 18:46. Hitzig, likewise, with many recent interpreters, regards Psa 18:46 sq. as optative, as if the cry of homage and rejoicing addressed to the king, which, however is (1Sa 10:24; 1Ki 1:39), is here applied to God. But it is better with Sept., Jerome, Cleric., to regard these words as declarative clauses in the sense of doxologies (Hengst., Hupf., Delitzsch).
Psa 18:47. The rare word used here for subdue, [] is in 2 Samuel 22 supplied by the usual word [].
Psa 18:48. Many interpreters understand the Man of violence to be particularly Saul (even Hitzig and Hengst.). Most interpreters regard the expression as collective (Pro 3:31).
Str. XVIII. Psa 18:49-50. [Delitzsch: The praise of such a God, who does to David as He has promised, is not to remain limited to the narrow space of Israel. If the Anointed of God makes war upon the heathen with the sword, yet it is that finally the blessing of the knowledge of Jehovah, and the salvation of Jehovah which he serves as mediator, may break its way to them in this manner. With entire propriety Paul, Rom 15:9, adduces Psa 18:49 of this Psalm, together with Deu 32:43, and Psa 117:1, as proof that salvation belongs likewise to the Gentiles according to the Divine mercy. What is stated in verse 50 as the reason and the subject of the praise which extends beyond Israel; is if David is its author, as Hitzig recognizes, a very consistent echo of the Messianic promise, 2Sa 7:12-16. And Theodoret without impropriety appeals to the closing words against the Jews. In whom else, than in Christ, the Son of David, has Davids fallen throne enduring existence, and all that has been promised to Davids seed, everlasting truth and reality? The praise of Jehovah, the God of David His anointed, is, according to its final meaning, praise of the Father of Jesus ChristC. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. In a thankful and pious heart the demonstrations of the love of God beget a sincere and hearty return of love, in the expression of which the feelings of affection meet it and pervade it with the recognition of great obligations and the vow of entire consecration, (Deu 6:5). Those, however, who love the Lord, are as the sun, which ascends in its power (Jdg 5:31). It is not in vain that they take refuge with God, who is the strength of those who trust in Him, and on the one side delivers and protects them, on the other fills them with strength to continue in the hope of faith.
2. The thankful retrospect of previous deliverances strengthens the faith in future help from God; and he who bears in mind, that the God invoked by him is the Lord of Glory, whom the congregation praises with adoration, joins in, on his part with one song of praise after another and finds his joy in the declaration of the benefits of God, his pleasure in the glory of the Lord. Ecclesia semper vincit semperque pugnat et superatis prteritis malis paratus ad futura mala superanda. (Luther).
3. Gods being enthroned on high and dwelling in the heavens, does not separate Him from His servants on earth; it merely exhibits Him in His exaltation above all the powers of the world and the Abyss; it no more prevents Him from hearing the sighs and supplications of the oppressed, than from making known His presence to help in gracious condescension to the needs of men.
4. The revelations of God in the world are not always accompanied by striking phenomena in nature, still less are thunder and lightning His constant attendants or the sure sign of His coming. But partly, the appearance of God in history has really at times been announced and accompanied by such phenomena (Exodus 19; Psalms 68; Psalms 77; Habakkuk 3; Hag 2:7; 2Th 1:8); partly, God as Lord of nature uses them as the instruments employed by Him, and means to deliver His servants and punish their enemies. It is, however, of great importance, to recognize the work of the Lord therein, and amidst the shaking of the world, through the powers of natures life, to discern the grasp of the hand of God.
5. To behold the form of the Divine Being is still future and yet to be expected (Psa 17:15). Hence the Theophanies of the Old Testament are all partly typical, partly symbolical; they are mysteries as well as revelations. It is particularly the clouds, which veil the light, which is not to be endured by mortal eyes (Exo 23:20, and elsewhere) and is inaccessible to any creature (1Ti 6:16), in which God dwells and which forms as the reflection of His light-nature, the resplendence of His glory, , , and so the approach of man to God is partly made possible, partly declared. This figurative language is taken partly from the sphere of the phenomena of nature which are visible in the heavens, in accordance with which light is called His garment (Psa 104:2), the clouds His tent (Job 36:29; Psalms 97), the thunder His voice (Psa 18:13; Job 37:2), lightning, however, and the storm as instruments of His righteous punishments (Jdg 5:4; Isa 30:27 sq., Isa 50:3; Isa 68:8; Psalms 97), often in connection with earthquakes (Psa 77:18; Psa 114:4; Joel 2:10; 4:16; Nah 1:5; Is. 24:28). At the basis of the symbolism of nature lies the idea, that certain peculiarities in the nature and action of God correspond with it. Thence God Himself is at times described as present and active in these phenomena of nature, not merely accompanied by them, and in bold but contemplative expressions the stirring up and expression of His wrath is represented as the kindling of His light-nature in all the turns of fiery and flaming figures, until that smoke issues from His nostrils snorting with wrath (Deu 19:9; Psa 74:1; Psa 80:4), and devouring fire from His mouth, (comp. the description of the crocodile, Job 41:10 sq.), from the coals which glow within Him. These natural phenomena, not so much in themselves, as under certain circumstances and more particular forms, form partly the symbol, partly the means of a Theophany. In the present description the personal interference of God to deliver His servant and judge His enemies, although accompanied by natural phenomena is yet particularly characterized by the mention of the Cherub. For however questionable the etymology and precise meaning of this word may be, yet this much is certain, that the forms thereby designated as well in their artistic representation upon the ark of the covenant, (Exodus 25) and in the temple in manifold ways; as in the prophets vision (Ezekiel 1; Ezekiel 10; Revelation 4), where they are represented as living beings, not less than in the narrative, (Genesis 3) and in the standing representation of Jehovah, that He is enthroned above the Cherubim (Num 7:89; 1Sa 4:4; 1Sa 6:2; 2Ki 19:15; Isa 37:16), constantly appeal in the closest relation to the revelation of the royal majesty of Jehovah in the world. On this very account they are in a direct connection with the clouds which indicate the presence of God in the world and are the means of His appearance, as then the Shekinah likewise has its place between the wings of the Cherubim (Lev 16:2; Num 7:89). From this follows, that these are neither a further symbol of these clouds (Riehm, de natura et notione symbolica Cheruborum 1864), nor in our passage merely a finishing of the figure, that Jehovah rides upon the wind-clouds (Calv. Hupf.: Psa 104:3; Isa 19:1; Isa 66:15; Nah 1:3). Still less, are they to be compared with the mythological thunder horses of the king of heaven. (J. D. Mich.).
6. He who is deprived of all means of resistance to his enemies, seems entirely given over into their power, and yet has God still as his friend, that man is not entirely lost; his day of misfortune becomes a day noteworthy to him for his deliverance by the hand of the Lord, who delivers His elect from all the straits of trouble. Election, however, is not arbitrary, the love of God is not a blind and unrighteous predilection, His good pleasure is not an unreasonable favor. A reciprocity of action, an interchange of a moral character takes place, which has as its contents the thought of recompense, for its foundation the ethical nature of God, by virtue of which God not only appears to every man, as he himself is minded and situated, but likewise on His part acts in a way corresponding to this (1Sa 26:23; Isa 29:14; Isa 31:3; Job 5:13; Pro 3:34). But he who pleads the purity of his hands and the honesty of his heart and his walking in the ways of God, must see to it, that self-praise is not heard in it, such as springs from self-righteousness, but that it is only a testimony of the fruitfulness, with which a man has served God and kept himself from trespasses, and which presupposes entire consecration to God, and declares itself as judging oneself with and according to Gods word and law. Such a self-witness is then confirmed by the judgment of God (1Ki 14:8). In this connection there can be no reference to pride and self-exaltation, inasmuch as the thought of recompense includes likewise the certainty of the humiliation of the proud (Isa 2:11), whom Jehovah hates (Pro 6:17).
7. Jehovah is the only true and real God. He alone can and will help. It is well for him, who relies upon His providence, trusts in His promises, resorts to His protection. He will experience the Divine assistance, so that he, armed with power from on high, not only escapes the attacks of his enemies, but is in a position, to completely overcome his adversaries, whose cry to God is not heard, because it is not a cry of prayer from a heart turned to God, but is only a cry of anxiety, extorted by necessity.
8. The difference between the Old and New Testament is very clearly to be recognized in the treatment of enemies and the description of them. It is true on the one side that even in the Old Testament private revenge is repudiated and God is declared to be the avenger of blood already. Gen 9:5. On the other side likewise in the New Testament the magistrates are represented as the servants of God who bear the sword (Rom 13:4). And the reference here in this Psalm is to the duty of the king. But a Christian king who has won victories over the enemies of Divine ordinances and institutions through Divine assistance and had as a duty to make an end not only of the actions but likewise of the life of the adversaries of the kingdom of God, could not immediately use either for his thanksgiving or his vows at the celebration of victory, some of the expressions used here. The authority for transferring and transforming them from the Old Testament into the New Testament stand-point lies in the fact that David mentions the exhibitions of vengeance as given to him by God, whereby they receive their justification and at the same time their limitation.
9. Thanksgiving for all the help, protection, and benefits received from God, are not to be limited to the sphere of those who have directly participated therein, but are to be heard as far as possible. And it is not only to resound in all the world, but is intentionally to be carried into all the world. He who understands his position as a servant of God, whether it be high or low, has likewise to lay hold of the task of declaring God as his own, and to unite with it the work of spreading abroad the name of God among those who know Him not. The heathen are not to be combated with the sword, but with the word of God; the blessing of the knowledge of God, however, is the best means of healing the wounds of war.
10. The everlasting continuance of that which David has thankfully laid hold of for himself and his seed in faith in the certainty of the Divine promise, and which he partly lauds, partly praises in Messianic hope, is, after the earthly throne of Davids line had long fallen, secured and pledged by Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, in Rom 15:9, therefore cites likewise Psa 18:49 of this Psalm, together with Deu 32:43, and Psa 117:1, as an evidence that the heathen likewise are to attain the salvation in Christ according to the mercy of God, and in order to this end are to hear the preaching of the Gospel, and to be received and treated as members of the Christian Church. When David gives thanks for his victories, he at the same time prepares a prophecy of Christs person and victories. (Luther).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
With God! That is the true watchword in war and in peace.A pious king gains one victory after another in domestic strifes and foreign wars.The Almighty, at times, makes use of the powers of nature in a striking manner in order to accomplish His purposes. It is necessary to observe the government of God in natural phenomena not less than in historical events. God reveals Himself in natural phenomena likewise; but at the same time He veils Himself in them. There is no need so great, but that God can deliver us from it.He who has perceived the hand of the Lord on himself, and gives the glory to God for the salvation he has received, is capable of being a servant of God, and is able to become in the hand of the Lord an instrument of the Divine judgment, and a tool of Divine grace.God blesses His servants likewise with temporal goods, chiefly, however, with eternal salvation, but both by grace.God in His action, governs Himself according to the conduct of men; and yet the cause and foundation of our salvation is not human righteousness, but Divine grace.God is a just Rewerder; but there is a great difference between the reward of grace and punishment.The name of God is likewise to be proclaimed among the heathen, for this David and his seed on whom the Divine grace rests forever, have an incomparable importance.Even the most pious man has not yet complete moral perfection; but sincere piety brings abiding blessing; for it leads to both these things, to observation of the law and seeking of grace.He who earnestly strives to avoid guilt, directs his attention to the Divine law.
Bugenhagen: If it please God that we should suffer for His glory and the salvation of ourselves and others how can we refuse.
Starke: If David, when at the height of his glory, called himself the servant of the Lord in order to show his deep humility, then be ye likewise thus minded; the higher thou art humble yourself the more.This great king ascribes his deliverance from his enemies not to his own power, but to the Lord, in whose honor he sings a song of praise; would that he had many followers now among the great of this world!Hearty love to God arises from believing knowledge and reflection upon His benefits.If God is our rock, who will overthrow us? If He is our stronghold, then we are safe; if He is our deliverer, He will not let us alone in our necessity; if He is our retreat, we are invincible; if He is our shield, no arrow will hit us; yes, if He is the horn of our salvation, no one will deprive us of our salvation.Believers not only cry to God when they are in distress (even the ungodly do this) but they pray always; yet their longing for grace is redoubled, the more their need increases. The signs of Gods wrath in nature are indeed terrible, but they are not to be reckoned in comparison with the everlasting and horrible punishments of hell.No abyss has ever been so deep, no enemy so cruel and powerful, and no disaster so terrible, as to put to shame the confidence of believers in their God.According as you behave towards God, so you have Him; if you seek Him as a gracious God, you will find Him such; if you regard God as your Father, He will regard you as His child; if however you mock His children, beware, He will mock you again (Pro 1:24 sq.)God is not only almighty and gracious for Himself, but all that He is, He is to those who hope in Him.Our God in the highest is He, whose power the idols of the heathen have experienced.Victory over our enemies must be sought from God, and not ascribed to our own strength and wisdom; yet we are not to reject the use of proper means (1Ki 20:13 sq.)A believer must use aright the power of God, and not leave off the struggle until the enemies are overcome.The ungodly likewise pray, but with impenitent hearts, and not from true faith, therefore God likewise does not hear such prayers (Joh 9:31).That is a blessed revenge of the Messiah, when God brings His enemies to repent of their wickedness and accept Him as their King. Since you cannot recompense God for all His benefits, yet love Him for them, and praise His name.
Osiander: When our affairs are bad we should trust in God; when they are good, we should not be proud.Arndt: Three things are necessary to victory; the shield of God, Gods right, and our humility, which does not rely upon human power, but upon Divine power.Baumgarten: When God occasions great movements in the realm of nature, and in human society, He designs all to be for the deliverance of His children.Calvin: There is promised us an invincible protection against all the onsets of the devil, all the craft of sin, all the temptations of the flesh.Renschel: By humility we rise, by pride we come down.Herberger: The world goes in many crooked ways, but he who walks with God advances from one virtue to another.Frisch: The most of your love you give to the world which yet does not respond to your love. With God however it is well spent. He has first loved you, daily bestows much good upon you, and will continue His love to you forever.Bogatzki: We must likewise learn to appropriate our God and Saviour according to all His names and offices, according to all that He is and has, and to attach to every name of God and Christ the little word my, and say: He is that likewise to me.O. v. Gerlach: To contemplate Gods glorious attributes, praise them and magnify them, is for believers the very proper means of deliverance.Guenther: All that is great and glorious, that is worthy of praise, has not been done by heroes, but God has done it through them. But as soon as the glory is to be given to God, all the thoughts of the poet must assume the form of a song of praise.Taube: The enemies of God have nothing so much to fear as the faith of the friends of God
[Matth. Henry: God will not only deliver His people out of their troubles in due time, but He will sustain them, and bear them up under their troubles in the meantime.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.Barnes: No man dishonors himself by acknowledging that he owes his success in the world to the Divine interposition.Spurgeon: The clefts of the Rock of Ages are safe abodes.To be saved singing is to be saved indeed. Many are saved mourning and doubting; but David had such faith that he could fight singing, and win the battle with a song still upon his lips. How happy a thing to receive fresh mercy with a heart sensible of mercy enjoyed, and to anticipate new trials with a confidence based upon past experiences of Divine love!Prayer is that postern gate which is left open even when the city is straitly besieged by the enemy; it is that way upward from the pit of despair to which the spiritual miner flies at once when the floods from beneath break forth upon him.O honored prayer, to be able thus, through Jesus blood, to penetrate the very ears and heart of Deity.Prayer has shaken houses, opened prison doors, and made stout hearts to quail. Prayer rings the alarm bell, and the Master of the house arises to the rescue, shaking all things beneath His tread.Blessed is the darkness which encurtains my God; if I may not see Him, it is sweet to know that He is working in secret for my eternal good.Sweet is pleasure after pain. Enlargement is the more delightful after a season of pinching poverty and sorrowful confinement. Besieged souls delight in the broad fields of the promise when God drives off the enemy and sets open the gates of the environed city.Rest assured, if we go deep enough, sovereign grace is the truth which lies at the bottom of every well of mercy. Deep sea fisheries in the ocean of Divine bounty always bring the pearls of electing, discriminating love to light.Backsliders begin with dusty Bibles, and go on to filthy garments.God gives us holiness, then rewards us for it. The prize is awarded to the flower at the show, but the gardener reared it; the child wins the prize from the school-master, but the real honor of his schooling lies with the master, although instead of receiving he gives the reward.Second thoughts upon Gods mercy should be, and often are, the best. Like wine on the lees our gratitude grows stronger and sweeter as we meditate upon divine goodness.It is Gods making Himself little which is the cause of our being made great. We are so little that if God should manifest His greatness without condescension, we should be trampled under His feet; but God, who must stoop to view the skies, and bow to see what angels do, looks to the lowly and contrite, and makes them great.The grace of God sometimes runs like fire among the stubble, and a nation is born in a day. Love at first sight is no uncommon thing when Jesus is the wooer. He can write Csars message without boasting, Veni, vidi, vici; His Gospel is in some cases no sooner heard than believed. What inducements to spread abroad the doctrine of the cross!Those who are strangers to Jesus are strangers to all lasting happiness; those must soon fade who refuse to be watered from the river of life.C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[14][Delitzsch: means properly the cleft of the rock, then the rock as riven into clefts; and the hard and great rock (Aram. , mountain).Accordingly the idea of a safe (and convenient) hiding-place, predominates in , that of a firm foundation and inaccessibleness in . The one figure reminds us of the Edomite , Isa 16:1; Isa 42:11, the [Petra], described by Strabo, xvi. 4, 21, enclosed by steep rocks; the other of the Phnician rock island [Tyre], the refuge place of the sea.C. A. B.]
[15][But there is no reference in the context to the temple or the altar or the throne of God, as places of refuge; the reference is entirely to the mountains and caves and rocks and warlike means of defence. The connection of horn with shield might favor the defensive horns of the buffalo, but the following word and the general tenor of the passage favor the reference to the summits of hills or mountains. On these rocky, horn-like summits David had often found refuge when pursued by Saul. It is a beautiful figure of the protecting care of Jehovah, which lifts David to a lofty and inaccessible peak, where his salvation is sure.C. A. B.]
[16][De Wette: Waves, great waters are, especially to the Hebrews, a frequent figure of misfortunes, danger (Psa 18:16; Psa 32:6; Psa 42:7; Psa 69:1); so likewise to the Greeks.C. A. B.]
[17][For the explanation of the mingling of bands and brooks and snares we may think of those brooks of Palestine which are ordinarily dry, or containing but little water, but when the storms burst upon the land, they rush in torrents, overflow their banks and entrap the unwary in their waters; they lay hold of him, bind him fast, surround him, and lead him to his death. Thus the Kishon overwhelmed the host of Sisera. And the Psalmist was in corresponding danger from the storm of evil with its rushing flood and ensnaring waters, vid. especially Psa 42:7; Psa 69:1-2.C. A. B.]
[18][For a full discussion of the Cherubim vid. Bhr., Symbolik d. Mos. Cult. I. 311 sq., 340 sq.; Herder, Geist d. Heb. Poes. I. 1, 6; Hengst., Bch. Mosis und gypt. 157 sq.; Riehm, Comm. de natura et notione symbolica Cheruborum; Herzog, Real-Encyclopdie Cherubim; Fairbairn, Typology I. 185 sq.; Smiths Dict. of the Bible, art. Cherubim, etc.C. A. B.]
[19][De Wette: Swiftness in running was a celebrated virtue of the ancient heroes, because fleeing was no disgrace and often a necessary stratagem. Achilles is called II. a. 58, with renown; 1Ch 12:8, it is said of two heroes: as roes upon the mountain in swiftness; comp. 2Sa 1:23. Hamas ed. Freytag, p. 84 sq.C. A. B.]
[20][This is the view of Calvin and Hengst., but it is strongly opposed by De Wette and Hupf., who contend that David alludes to swiftness of flight and refuge upon his high places. The Psalmist is, however, speaking of the help of the Lord, in giving him strength and power, and it is better to interpret this verse consistently with the preceding and following, of attacking and conquest, and not of fleeing from his enemies.C. A. B.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 516
GOD THE ALL-SUFFICIENT PORTION OF HIS PEOPLE
Psa 18:1-3. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
FROM the persecutions of Gods saints in former ages, we derive this most important benefit: we see what was the power of divine grace in them for their support, and what its efficacy was to purify and exalt their souls. Had David never been oppressed by Saul, and never been driven from his throne by Absalom, what loss should we have sustained, in those devout compositions which were written in the midst of his trials, and which have brought down to us all the workings of his mind under them! In truth, no one can understand the Psalms of David, so as to enter into the spirit of them, unless he have been called, in some considerable degree, to suffer for righteousness sake. The psalm before us was penned by David as an acknowledgment of the deliverances that had been vouchsafed to him from the hands of Saul, and of all his other enemies. And a sublimer composition can scarcely be found, in all the records of antiquity.
In the words which we have just read, we see,
I.
An ebullition of his gratitude
His mind was evidently full of his subject. He had been contemplating the wonderful goodness of God to him: and he bursts forth into this devout rapture: I will love thee, O Lord, my strength! Commentators have observed, that the word which is here used, expresses all that is tender and affectionate, and implies in it the strongest emotion of the soul. And this was justly called forth by his view of the divine perfections, and by his sense of Gods unbounded kindness towards him.
And if he, from a sense of temporal mercies, was so inflamed with love to God, what should not we feel towards our incarnate God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in a review of all the wonders of Redeeming Love?
[View the Saviour in his personal excellencies; and then say what should be our feelings towards him View him in the offices which he has sustained for us, as the Prophet, Priest, and King of his church; and then think what are the ejaculations which become you View him in the blessings you have already experienced at his hands; and, whilst you adopt the language of the prophet, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength, tell me with what frame of mind you should utter these words It is said, that, not having seen him, we nevertheless love him; and that, believing in him, we rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and glorified: and sure I am, that the glorified saints around the throne should scarcely exceed us in the ardour of our affections, whilst we exclaim, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. In this, then, the Psalmist should be a pattern to us. We should be so in the habit of contemplating the Saviours love, that the involuntary ebullition of our minds should be, I do love thee, and I will love thee, O Lord, my strength; yea, I will love thee with all the powers of my soul This, I say, should be the language of our souls, when our feelings, too big for utterance, can at last find vent in words.]
In connexion with this rapturous exclamation we have,
II.
A profession of his faith
David, from diversified trials, was forced to become a man of war; and to seek, by a mixture of courage and of skill, a deliverance from his enemies. Under the persecutions of Saul especially, he had recourse to strong holds and fortresses, where he might withstand his too powerful oppressor. But it was in God alone that he really found protection. As means, he had availed himself of local advantages, and personal courage, and armour both of a defensive and offensive kind: but it was God alone who had rendered them effectual for his preservation; and therefore he gives all the glory to God, saying, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler (to defend me), and the horn of my salvation (by whom I thrust down all my enemies), and my high tower.
And shall not we, who have so much stronger enemies to contend with, acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as standing in all these relations to us for our salvation?
[Yes, in truth, long since had our great adversary the devil prevailed against us, if our adorable Emmanuel had not interposed for our deliverance. In him we have found refuge from all the curses of Gods broken law By him have we been strengthened in our inner man And from him have we received the armour of heavenly temper, by which we have been enabled to maintain our conflict with all the enemies of our salvation If we have been strong, it has been in the Lord; and in the power of his might; and it is he that must have all the glory of our preservation.
Behold, then, in what terms we should give glory to our great deliverer! We should acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as our all in all. And, whilst we give him the glory of all that we have already received, we should trust him for all our future conflicts: and, contemplating fully all the powers that there are in him, we should learn to appropriate all of them to ourselves, and to say, He is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; MY buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. There should not be any thing in the Lord Jesus Christ but we should make it our own by faith, and claim it as our own in all the conflicts to which we may be called: and in every time of trial we should address him in the words of Thomas, my Lord, and my God.]
To this the blessed Psalmist adds,
III.
A declaration of his purpose
He did not think that Gods relation to him would justify remissness or negligence on his part. On the contrary, he regarded it as his encouragement to call upon the Lord, and as a pledge to him of certain success.
And we, too, must bear in mind, that all our mercies must be obtained by prayer; and that in no other way can we hope to be saved from our enemies.
[We see how David prayed in a time of great trial: Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight thou against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation [Note: Psa 35:1-3.]. It was thus that he brought down succour from on high, in every time of need. And it is in the same way that we must obtain help of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Though his promises to us are so free and full, yet he will be inquired of, to do these things for us [Note: Eze 36:37.]: and if we ask not, neither shall we have. Moreover, we must acknowledge him in all that we have already received, and confess him as worthy to be praised: for the command is, In every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God: and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It is in this way alone that victory can be secured: but if we use these means, we are certain to obtain it. If we live in the habit of fervent and believing prayer, we may, in the midst of conflicts, exult as more than conquerors; and behold, by anticipation, our great adversary as already bruised under our feet [Note: Rom 16:20.].]
From this sublime passage we may see,
1.
The true nature of vital religion
[Vital religion is not wholly speculative, nor is it altogether practical; but a compound, if I may so say, of theory and of practice. We must have knowledge, even a knowledge of God in all his perfections, and of the Lord Jesus Christ in all his offices. Without this, there can be no right feeling towards the Supreme Being: no love towards him, no confidence in him, no communion with him. But, with just views of the Deity, we must also have suitable dispositions towards him. In a word, we must have an experience similar to that of David in our text, affecting from our inmost souls a life of communion with God, of dependence on him, and of devotedness to his service. Beloved Brethren, rest not in any thing short of this. Let your meditations on God be sweet and frequent: and let them be renewed, till they have kindled a flame of love in your souls towards him, and till the daily language of your heart be, Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.]
2.
The folly of those who seek not after God
[Compare the Psalmists experience with your own: What refuge have you in a time of trouble, or what comfort in reflecting upon God? Alas! instead of the blessed language of David, you must rather say, O God, I behold nothing in thee that I can appropriate to myself; nothing but what may well fill me with alarm and terror. As for love to God, you know not what it means: and for confidence in him you have not the smallest ground: no, nor have you any access to him in the hour of necessity. Hence you are a prey to your enemies, and are led captive by the devil at his will. Unhappy creatures! You may go on your appointed time, and may hide yourselves from the danger to which you are exposed: but your state is only the more pitiable in proportion as you are lulled in fatal security. If they are right who resemble the Psalmist, you can have no clearer evidence that you yourselves are out of the way of peace and salvation. And were there no future state of existence, your loss would be great even in this world: but when we take eternity into the account, your prospect is terrible indeed: for, if you do not love God now, you cannot love him when you go hence: if you do not possess an interest in him here, you can have no interest in him hereafter: if you do not live nigh to him in prayer in this world, you never can unite with the heavenly hosts in their songs of praise to him in the eternal world.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
We met with this Psalm in David’s history, 2Sa 22 and had it referred to David only, I see no reason why it should make a part in this book. Indeed, doth it not seem, by being placed here, to intimate that we are to look beyond David for the highest and best sense of it? The Psalm itself treats of deliverance from enemies, and is an hymn of praise to this effect from beginning to end; and if read with an eye to Christ, is beautiful indeed.
To the Chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. And he said,
Psa 18:1
I beseech the Reader to be upon the lookout for the Lord Jesus through every part and portion of this Psalm, in, which the death of Christ, his resurrection, and his kingdom, are by the spirit of prophecy, beautifully set forth. Indeed, is not the very title suited particularly to Jesus more than to David. For though David might sing of his own personal deliverance from the hand of Saul, and the greater part of his enemies, yet none but Jesus could sing of all, for the last enemy that is to be destroyed is death; and none but Jesus conquered death. I beseech the Reader, therefore, to behold Jesus in it, and while, as the servant of Jehovah, he hears the Lord triumphing in his victories over death, hell, and the grave, let him, as I do, beg of God that we may both read it with faith, and feel our own personal interest in all the triumphs of our God and Saviour.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 18:17-19
These words were sung upon the scaffold by four sons of the Huguenots:
‘He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
‘They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay ‘He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me because he delighted in me.’
They were sung by the last martyrs of the desert, Francis Rochette, and three brothers of the name of Grenier, who suffered as late as 1762, under the reign of Louis XV.
John Ker.
The Irony of God
Psa 18:26
‘The pure thinks God is pure, the froward thinks God is froward.’
I. The froward think that God is froward. Sinners think that God is altogether One such as themselves. Even in the hour of death the most abandoned sinners go to meet God without a tremor. There are others who, while they know that God is angry with them and their sins, yet do not feel that it is with a terrible and alarming anger. Now there are many facts in life which the most honest minds find hard to reconcile with God’s holiness. Look at some of those facts. ( a ) How many opportunities for sin there are in the world. ( b ) Again, how often, when men begin to sin, they begin to succeed. ( c ) On the other hand, how often the moment men cease from sinning they begin to fail. ( d ) Again, some of the highest forces in the world are on the side of evil.
II. With the pure God shows Himself to be pure. They see that the froward is the victim of illusions, and, in spite of all appearances, that God is perfect in holiness. They see that all these untoward facts only mean that temptation is an element in life. Tempted purity is the purest, and the fire is intended not to consume, but to purify the gold.
III. But what is the reason of God’s creation of this strange law, that what a man is shall determine his thought of God, so that with the froward He shows Himself perverse? The answer is, God uses irony in His dealings with men. One or two instances will illustrate this Divine use of irony. ( a ) Is it not an irony that the kingdom of good often comes in this world by the victory and not the defeat of the kingdom of evil. ( b ) Is it not an irony that men often sin to gain an end, and miss the very end they sin to gain? ( c ) And is not this an irony that men who reject God and His wisdom often in their calculations miss out the only things which are certain to happen?
IV. The reason of God’s use of irony in his dealings with men. If we are not open to the conviction that we are sinners, He will convince us that we are fools. And nothing shows the proud their folly so effectually as irony. Behind the Divine laughter there is love. Behind the sarcasm there is yearning; the irony is the hunger of a heart seeking to save.
E. Aldom French, God’s Message through Modern Doubt, p. 15.
References. XVIII. 25, 26. J. Service, Salvation Here and Hereafter, p. 156. XVIII. International Critical Commentary, vol. i. p. 137.
Lead, Kindly Light
Psa 18:28
There is in man something to which the Divine taper can be applied. The image and superscription of God imprinted upon him have not been completely effaced. And yet man can shine, as does the man with a light that is borrowed.
I. Only He Who in the beginning said, ‘Let there be light,’ Who ‘is light,’ and in Whom ‘is no darkness at all,’ can light the human lamp: and when a man’s lamp is thus lit, he not only finds his own path bright, but, reflecting the Divine rays, he becomes a lamp to others who are groping their way amid the gloom and terror of the night.
II. There is perhaps no single word which is so expressive of everything that is good, and consequently so satisfying to man on every side of his nature as the word ‘light’. Darkness is chiefly associated with what is bad, hurtful, dangerous. There are times when, on account of the darkness, we cannot see our way. And then we cry, ‘Lead, kindly light’.
W. Taylor, Twelve Favourite Hymns, p. 63.
References. XVIII. 28. H. P. Liddon, Contemporary Pulpit, Extra No. 4, p. 92. XVIII. 30. J. C. Miller, Penny Pulpit, No. 1035. XVIII. 35. J. Vaughan, Sermons, 4th Series, p. 245. W. M. Taylor, Limitations of Life, and other Sermons, p. 344. R. C. Trench, Sermons in Westminster Abbey, p. 339. C. J. Vaughan, Voices of the Prophets, p. 18. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii. No. 683. H. Bushnell, Christ and His Salvation, p. 18. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii. No. 683. Leach, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv. p. 232. Bishop Woodford, Sermons on Subjects from the Old Testament, p. 105. XVIII. 50. H. Bonar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv. p. 177. A. Maclaren, Life of David, p. 153.
Psa 18:39-40
Clovis, the founder of the French monarchy, whose name in the form of Louis has descended to so many kings, was marching southward from Paris, a.d. 507, to meet the formidable Visigoths in battle. Anxious to forecast the result, he sent messengers to consult the shrine of St. Martin of Tours, the oracle of Gaul. They were told to mark the words of the Psalm chanted, when they entered the church. These were verses 39, 40, and encouraged Clovis to the step which proved decisive in French history:
‘I have wounded them that they were not able to rise; they are fallen under my feet.
‘For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle; thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.’
John Ker.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Psa 18
[Note. Critics are very definite in their judgment that this psalm is the most magnificent ode which David composed. It was sung in the last years of prosperity, when the surrounding nations all knelt before the king in homage and presented to him tribute. The form of the psalm is distinctly after the manner of David, who loved to dwell upon the phenomena of the natural world and to find his way through nature up to nature’s God. Probably the psalm was composed in view of the occurrence of some great festival. It begins with unusual solemnity. Overwhelmed by a sea of trouble, and sinking to the very gates of hell, the king cries to Jehovah for help; his prayer is heard, and the answer comes accompanied with all the artillery of heaven. A competent critic has said: “Its wealth of metaphor, its power of vivid word-painting, its accurate observation of nature, its grandeur and force of imagination, all meet us here; but above all the fact that the bard of Israel wrote under the mighty conviction of the power and presence of Jehovah. The phenomena of the natural world appealed to his imagination as to that of poets generally, but with this addition, that they were all manifestations of a supreme glory and goodness behind them.” The psalm closes with the same high and solemn note with which it began.]
Glorified Providence
The title states that the words of this song were spoken by David unto the Lord in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. This, therefore, fixes the circumstances and consequently the historical atmosphere in which the whole production must be studied. It is important to know that there is an actual historical background, and that the poet is not inventing phrases merely for the sake of relieving a passing religious emotion. In order to understand the poetry we must understand the history, and in order to do the history full justice we must carry it up to its poetical enlargements and interpretations. Every fact has a corresponding parable, and every parable points to an underlying fact. Forgetfulness of this simple rule has led to great bewilderment, and in some cases to not a little moral confusion. It has been said that parable is the larger truth. This is emphatically so in the interpretation of all matters connected with the kingdom of God. It was left for Jesus Christ, in a very large degree, to deal with this infinite region of parable. Other teachers told what they had seen, and were content to be regarded as mere eye-witnesses; up to that point their testimony was of course invaluable; but a teacher was needed who would go beyond the strictly factual basis and give the world those larger interpretations which are possible only to parabolical embodiment. In the light of these considerations, we must regard the Psalm as poetical history, or historical poetry. It should be read concurrently with 2 Samuel xxii. Reading the one in immediate sequence to the other will form an admirable illustration of what we have said concerning the translation of history into poetry. The whole psalm may be taken as a glorifying of divine government. The divine government is there of course as a simple and positive fact, but it required an imagination quickened by David’s agonistic experience to express in adequate terms the grandeur of the thoughts surrounding the idea of God’s throne and rule. We believe, however, that the full explanation of a psalm can only be realized, in proportion as we consider it in its relations to Jesus Christ. What was impossible to David was possible to the Messiah whom he prophetically represented. We have no hesitation, therefore, in fixing this as one of the Messianic psalms, and finding in the triumph and sovereignty of Jesus Christ the fact which is but poorly approached even by this redundance of poetical metaphor and eloquence. This psalm is a kind of apocalypse in anticipation. The man who wrote the Book of Revelation might have begun his literary career by writing the eighteenth psalm. There is the same grand command of language, the same daring imagery, the same noble contempt for all the material forces which appear to be so formidable to the merely material investigator. What is standard and fixed and immovable to the man whose mind operates within the limits of matter, becomes quite easy of treatment, and is indeed blown about as by a great wind, under the conception of a man whose imagination is ennobled by religious faith and sanctified by religious humility. In this psalm, for example, the earth shakes and trembles; the foundations also of the hills are moved and shaken, because of the wrath of heaven; out of God’s nostrils there goes up a smoke, and fire out of his mouth devours, and flaming coals blaze from his lips. In his condescension God bows the heavens also, and comes down, and a black cloud infinite masses of rain is gathered and bent towards the earth under the majestic movement. God makes darkness his secret place, and his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies: the Lord thunders in the heavens, and the Highest gives forth his voice, and the sound of that voice is as the commingling of hailstones and coals of fire. All this sublime imagery is obviously apocalyptic, and is to be interpreted by the imagination rather than inquired into by the critical faculty.
Turning to the psalm for the purpose of distinct religious edification, let us note the particular providence which was glorified. This is stated in Psa 18:4-6 :
“The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.”
No attempt is here made to diminish the severity of the crisis. Often when a great agony is overpast the sufferer himself forgets its intensity, and is inclined to suppose that it might have been cured by less ostentatious means than had been adopted for its pacification. We are seldom critically correct in the recollection of our sorrows. We either unduly magnify them, or we so far modify their intensity as to make any remedial measures look as simple and superficial as possible. David vividly remembered all his afflictive experience. He does not hesitate to speak of that experience in words which are metaphorical, if not romantic, without at all affecting the reality of the trouble through which he had passed. He says “the sorrows of death compassed” him. Some have interpreted this expression as birth-pangs; others again have used the word cords. It has been thought that the figure of the hunter in the next verse, in which we read of the snares of death, fixes the meaning there to be cords. In Samuel, David represents himself as submerged or overwhelmed by the progress or waves of the trouble which had been made to pass over him. Sometimes indeed we do not know what real trouble we have been in until we have been removed from it for some distance and thus enabled to contemplate it in its totality. Again and again the mind exclaims concerning the impossibility that such and such trouble can really have been survived. We are familiar with the experience which declares that certain afflictions could not possibly be borne a second time. It is well to bear in memory our greatest sorrows that we may also recollect our greatest deliverances. There is no true piety in undervaluing the darkness and the horror through which the soul has passed. Instead of making light of the most tragical experiences of life, we should rather accumulate them, that we may see how wondrous has been the interposition of the divine hand and how adequate are the resources of Heaven to all the necessities of this mortal condition. Even admitting the words to be metaphorical, they present a vivid picture of what human sorrow may be, whatever may be rationally imagined may be actually undergone; as to David’s own consciousness, what is here stated was a matter of the sternest reality. It should be borne in mind, too, that trouble is a different thing to different men, even when it comes in the same guise and quantity. Much must depend upon temperament. Things animate suffer; things inanimate do not respond to the blow with which they are struck. The poetic temperament is the most suffering of all. According to the sensitiveness of the nature is the terribleness of the stroke which falls upon it. David had the gift of expression even in this matter of trouble; he remembered every pang; he saw every spectral image; he could give a name to every passing emotion; he grew eloquent in the redundance of his language in setting forth the blackness and terribleness of the night through which his soul had been supernaturally conducted. Other men have no gift of telling the extent of affliction which they have undergone. They know they have been in trouble, but they have no words wherewith to set forth before the minds of others adequate images of their actual distress. We must form our estimate of human experience either from the one class or the other, that is, from those who have the gift of expression, or from those who suffer in silence: taking the language of such a man as David for our guide, we cannot but see here the all but infinite capability of human nature in the matter of positive and intolerable anguish. It is curious to notice, too, how sorrow in its utmost pain and fear tends downward when it seeks for some adequate image. As surely as our high and triumphant joy goes up to heaven for its metaphors and symbols, so truly does our extremest anguish find only in hell that which is adequate to give even an outline of its burning pain. When in the fourth verse the Psalmist speaks of “the sorrows of death,” and in the fifth verse points to “the sorrows of hell,” we see a natural operation of the human mind. Left to itself, the human mind turns its own experience into a revelation alike of heaven and of hell. As mere terms these may have been brought to us by others, but being brought they instantly fit an experience which is full of joy or sorrow. Even were the words blotted from the inspired page, we should still be conscious of the realities within us which these words more fitly typify than any others.
This being the bitter and awful experience of David, we may now turn to the providence by which he was delivered, as recorded in the seventh and following verses. Now let us, in the first instance, try to find the literal line, the plain matter-of-fact occurrence, which runs through the whole of this poetical representation. David means to say that the enemy was thrown into consternation by natural phenomena. He describes these phenomena as shakings of the earth and movings of its foundations, and the strange darts of light which seemed to shoot through and through the pavilion of darkness. Stripped of the poetry, the fact remains that there are times when all nature seems to be employed on the side of vindicating righteousness or punishing iniquity. Account for it as we may, there is the fact that in our own experience there are hours when nature seems to be unwilling to accept our co-operation, when in very deed it would seem almost personally to contradict and exasperate us, setting our ingenuity at defiance and repelling the hand that would cultivate and control.
In the next place, the Psalmist sets it down as a familiar thought that the supernatural may overrule the ordinary, that is to say, that spiritual impressions may absorb every other feeling. Everywhere the Psalmist saw the living God. The whole universe seemed to be alive with his presence and to be afraid of his glance. The hills could not stand still as he approached them, and the shadow of the cherub upon which he did fly seemed to bring the darkness of night with it. The earth was no longer a place of mere dust in the estimation of the Psalmist; it was a church filled by the living presence of the eternal God; on every side was the burning altar, and the whole air was charged with holy incense. This of course is a poetical representation, but underneath it is a plain and obvious reality, confirmed by the spiritual experience of every Christian. There are seasons when we can almost see God in the operations of nature in the beauty of the flower, in the splendour of the stars, in all the comeliness of summer, in all the bountifulness of hospitable harvest. At other times God may seem afar off, but in these better seasons he is nigh at hand: the material seems to have been reduced to a minimum, and all nature takes up the parable of the kingdom of heaven, and relates it in every hue of language and every tone of music. Then the delighted dreamer exclaims, Lo, God is here, and I knew it not! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
We next see how vividly the Psalmist realised the absolute power of mind over matter:
“Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils” ( Psa 18:15 ).
These words represent the idea that when mind is fully roused, and is in its noblest action, all matter trembles in its presence as a thing servile and helpless. Matter appears to be strong and noble under some circumstances, but under other conditions it trembles and fades and dies out of sight as that which is contemptible and unworthy to be seen when the Lord’s power is fully abroad. What is this but saying in plain language that there are times when the universe appears to be a thing of mind rather than a thing of matter when the whole plan of creation seems to be an infinite thought rather than a complicated mechanism? Once let the mind seize the idea that the spiritual is greater than the material, and then only poetry can express the prose fact that the throne of the universe is filled by a Spirit, infinite, glorious, and loving, and that all so-called iron law is in the power of that Spirit, to be moulded and appointed according to its beneficent designs.
Passing from this point, the Psalmist shows how the impossible was made possible by the omnipotence of God.
“For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall” ( Psa 18:29 ).
“He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms” (
This also 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 daylight of a momentary vision. We say it is not possible that we can have escaped all our foes and entirely left behind us the “great and terrible wilderness.” We still feel as if the enemy might seize us, and as if a moment’s boasting would mean lifelong subjugation to the tyranny which we have supposedly escaped. In this view of our own circumstances, our song is not permitted to reach its full compass of delight, lest the enemy should overhear our triumphing and again seize us as his prey. We are pursued by our enemies; when our imagination is vexed by the cross-colours which make up the panorama of life, it is easy to persuade us that to-morrow 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 Lord’s care, and as if the Infinite took delight only in his well-being and prosperity. It is unfortunately possible also to imagine on the part of the Lord a special contempt for the enemies of whom we are ourselves afraid. It is impossible for us to think that God can be friendly to men who are unfriendly to us. We thus, without intention and certainly without words, accuse God of invidiousness and partiality. There is great need for care in this direction, lest we grow in spiritual self-sufficiency and in the uncertain security of irrational and presumptuous pride. Rather let us think that if men have been our enemies they may have had some reason for their hostility, and let us diligently cross-examine ourselves to find out how far their opposition has been justified by something wrong within our own nature. It is lawful to learn from an enemy, and it is lawful for us to occupy the enemy’s standpoint in endeavouring to form a true estimate of ourselves.
In this psalm we have an outline of David’s conception of God. Some of the expressions are marvellously penetrating and marvellously beautiful. What can be sweeter than such words as these?
“With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; with the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward” ( Psa 18:25-26 ).
In the thirty-fifth verse the Psalmist uses an expression which has comforted many a spirit and explained satisfactorily many a sacred experience, “thy gentleness hath made me great.” This word gentleness has been translated “meekness,” and has been taken as pointing to him who said, “I am meek and lowly.” The meaning would seem to be that we owe our stability and enlargement to the forbearance of God. If he had been only all-mighty and all-righteous he would have crushed us and carried us away in a storm of derision because of our falsehood and vanity and selfishness. But he has carefully surrounded us so that we might have an opportunity to grow, become strong, and to mature our life in all acceptable fruitfulness. We owe all that is best and truest in ourselves, not to a culture we have either originated or conducted, but to the gentleness or forbearance of God, who has spared us and enabled us to turn to advantage all the blessings of his providence. In such verses as these we come upon a distinct and unchangeable philosophy. God is to us what we are to God. Wherein we are pure, we see the holiness of the Father; and wherein we are merciful, we share the divine compassion. We thus become as it were interpreters and reflectors of the divine nature. It would seem as if we could only know God according to the limit and quality of our own spirit. We must find the unknown through the known, the divine through the human, and make time itself into a symbol of eternity. Terrible is the thought, yet full also of joy, that man is the best interpreter of God. Whatever we may see of him in the works of so-called “nature” their variety, their vastness, their simplicity, and their security we see more of him in the spirit, the capability, and the growth of a little child. Looking in this direction for parables and illustrations of the divine nature, we feel how possibly true it may be that man was created in the image and likeness of God. We see also how true it is that human gentleness conduces to human growth and social security. We owe next to nothing to violence. Mere strength may be devoted to purposes of devastation, but pity, love, forbearance, gentleness, of necessity conduce towards preservation, establishment, and security.
Whilst this whole psalm may be taken as poetry based upon history so far as David is concerned, it may be taken as literally true concerning David’s Lord. Jesus Christ also had his great agony: there was a time when the sorrows of death compassed him, and the floods of ungodly men made him afraid: there was a time when the sorrows of hell compassed him about, and the snares of death suddenly seized upon him. Out of all this agony he came more than conqueror. The heavens darkened, the earth trembled, the rocks were rent, the veil of the temple was thrown down, and out of the darkness of Calvary there dawned the morning of the world. All these phenomena are now in process in the providence of God. Still darkness is the secret place of the Almighty, and the pavilion of the Eternal is in dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Still God is in the midst of the battles of the world, and is invisibly reigning over all the tumult and fierceness of carnal men and ambitious empires. Things are working together mysteriously but certainly and the end of the co-operation will be the establishment of the Cross and kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The time will come when the whole earth will be filled with the glory of God. As for his enemies, Jesus Christ will beat them small as the dust before the wind, and his hand shall be upon their necks that he may destroy them. If men will not fall upon the stone and be broken, the stone will fall upon them and grind them to powder. Jesus Christ is yet to give thanks unto the Lord among the heathen, and sing praises unto his name in the uttermost parts of the earth. All this it may be difficult to understand as a mere matter of verbal criticism, but the heart knows it to be true, and rejoices in the promise of millennial light and millennial peace.
Prayer
Almighty God, thou hast made us, and not we ourselves. We are the offspring of the living God. In God we live and move and have our being. This is our joy, because this is our strength; and this is our terror, because herein is found the beginning of our responsibility and our judgment. Thou knowest what we are, what we can do, how many talents thou hast entrusted to us, and with how many opportunities thou hast enriched our period of probation; so if we are not faithful we cannot evade thee; if we fail to seize the passing time and say, Behold, we knew it not as a season sent from heaven, thy judgment will be just. Inasmuch as we live in thee, may we draw our law from thee, and walk by it steadfastly, thankfully, in growing delight of obedience; rejoicing exceedingly that we are not called upon to make a law for ourselves, but to read and to realize the statutes written by thine own finger. May we inquire for thy revelation, and read it with eagerness, and hide it in our hearts, and know it to be sweeter than honey, yea than the honeycomb the very droppings of the comb, the sweetest of the sweetness. Thus may our life be ordered from on high, and be itself a revelation to other men of what the soul can be and do by being consciously in the living Christ and lovingly serving him who is the Head of Humanity. Thou hast made us apparently for a day only: our breath is in our nostrils; we droop and die; thou changest our countenance and sendest us away. Yet it cannot be for a day only that thou hast made us: thy purpose is greater, thy purpose is boundless. Help us to believe, therefore, that there is a life in reserve, a sphere yet to be revealed, an opportunity yet to be disclosed. May we live in the light of that further day, that brighter day, and abide in the joy and hope of that immortality which is in Christ Jesus a living heaven, a living service, a service that knows no end nor weariness. Whilst we are looking forward to that higher sphere, that wider nobler life, may we remember that there are but twelve hours in this little day of earth, and diligently improve every one of them by being industrious in the service of the living God. Teach us what we ought to do, and teach us how to do it, that with simplicity, fidelity, and godly sincerity we may execute our mission upon earth, and thus become prepared for the greater mission now unknown. We pray thee to have pity upon us in that we are unworthy of thy love: we have broken thy law, we have stained thy name, we have wandered far from the right line; but thou lovest us nevertheless yea, thou dost yearn over us with fatherly anxiety; thou dost listen for our coming home, thou art watching our return: therein thou dost show thy love, thy pity, thine exceeding care. All this we know in Christ Jesus thy Son. He left the ninety-and-nine and came after that which was lost, until he found it: the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Lord, we were lost, but by Christ we have been found; we have entered so far into the joy of our Lord as to know the rapture of conscious forgiveness. Now bind us to the Cross of Christ by which we have been saved; deliver us from all sin, darkness, fear, and take away from us the spirit that would apostatise us, luring us by subtler temptations to still deeper ruin. And that this may be so, let thy word dwell in us richly, and thy Holy Spirit never forsake us, and thy grace become magnified towards us in the proportion of our need. It is not enough that thou dost expel the evil; thou wilt also implant and cultivate the good, and increase it until there is no room in us for evil, as there is no inclination for it The Lord give us the sobriety of veneration, the joy of hope, the real blessedness of pardoned souls. The Lord build his temple within us, and dwell therein as in a chosen place. Give to every man a special revelation of truth, and an individual assurance of acceptance. Thus may blessing be individualised and multiplied, and abundantly and eternally increased. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
PSALMS
XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS
According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS
1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)
The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books
1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship
1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups
1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms
1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms
1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS
A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,
(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;
(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Psa 18:1 To the chief Musician, [A Psalm] of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day [that] the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
To the chief Musician ] Some render it, Ad triumphandum; and well they may; for this is old David’s , or triumphant song after so many victories and deliverances; and it is twice recorded in Scripture, with very little variation, see 2Sa 22:1-51 for the great worth and weightiness of the matter; that we may the more observe it, and be the better versed in it. This here recorded seemeth to be the review of it, and hence those small additions and alterations that are found here and there, but not of any great moment.
A Psalm of David
The servant of the Lord
Sic ubi fata vocant, &c.
This he did after that, as a faithful servant of the Lord, he had done all the wills of God, Act 13:22 , had served out his full time, Psa 18:36 , and dwelt in God’s house to length of days, Psa 23:6 .
Who spake unto the Lord the words of this song
From the hand of all his enemies
And from the hand of Saul
Ver. 1. I will love thee, O Lord my strength ] Heb. I will love thee dearly and entirely, ex intimis visceribus, from the very heart-root, from the bottom of my bowels; with like intention of affection, as a tender hearted mother doth her dearest babe, that is her own bowels; herself of the second edition. Neither did David herein supererogate: For God requireth to be loved with all the heart, mind, soul, strength, as one that is best worthy; good without measure, that hath loved us without measure, and therefore is without measure by us to be beloved. Modus sit sine mode (Bern.). Not that we are bound to love God in quantum est diligibilis so much as he is lovely or love worthy; for so God can only love himself; but, Nihil supra, aeque, aut contra, nothing must we love above God or so much as God, much less against God; we must be able to say affectionately, with David, Psa 73:25-26 , “Whom have I in heaven but thee? there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.” And as Bernard, Amo te, Domine, plus quam mea, meos, me I love thee, Lord, more than my goods, my friends, myself. A Christian begins with loving God for himself, but he ends in loving himself, and all other, both persons and things, in and for God. His friend he loveth in the Lord, his foes for the Lord; but God he loveth absolutely, and for himself, affecting not only a union with him, but even a unity, his heart being turned, as it were, into a very lump of love, as was Mary’s, Luk 7:47 . Histories tell of a certain woman that came to Vespasian the emperor, professing that she was in love with him; he commanded that a liberal reward should be given her for the same; and when his steward asked him under what item he should put that gift in the book of account, Vespasiano adamato, said the emperor, Item, To her that loved Vespasian. God, saith the apostle, is not unrighteous, to forget your labour of love, &c., Heb 6:10 . “I love them that love me,” saith Christ, Pro 8:17 . And his love is not like the winter sun, which hath light, but no heat; he is the strength of his people, their rock, fortress.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“To the chief musician: by David, a servant of Jehovah, who spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day Jehovah delivered from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, and he said,”
Here again we have the Messiah, and this not so much as having His joy in God, or looking for righteous vindication in resurrection glory, but as identifying Himself from first to last with Israel’s history from Moses to David, and to His own reign yet future as David’s greater Son. Thus viewed (and less or other than this is not the truth) it is a grand close and complement of the two psalms before it. It is strictly Jewish, as any unprejudiced must see. Hence “mine iniquity” in ver. 23 (Heb. 24) looks at the godly remnant with whom He associates Himself; as it expressed the feeling of David in his day. It cannot apply to the Lord personally. Others indeed were naturally prone to it, He never and in no respect. We see how truly the suffering Christ is the final and full Deliverer of Israel, and the Head of the nations too – glories to come. But in all their affliction He was afflicted, and in association with Israel (not only in atonement for us), knew the sorrows of death. The psalm however contemplates Him as the delivered One at the beginning long before He delivers at the end. This the Jews have failed and refuse to see. The veil is still on their heart. But the day is at hand when their heart will turn to the Lord, and the veil be taken away. Meanwhile we, who now believe in the rejected but risen and glorified Christ, triumph in that grace which has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ; and so we await the day when Zion’s light shall come and the glory of Jehovah rise on her. ‘Surely He will hasten it in its time.
The next group of Psalms has the common character of testimony, culminating in Psa 22 , which however, as expressing the expiatory sufferings of our Lord and their results may be viewed apart. Here again after the introduction of Psa 19 the Messiah is prominent.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 18:1-3
1I love You, O Lord, my strength.
2The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.
Psa 18:1-3 The psalmist addresses his God with a series of powerful titles and allusions (same poem in 2 Samuel 22). In the midst of life’s stresses he knew the unchanging character of the God of creation and redemption. Notice the personal element in the my pronouns.
1. my strength BDB 305, KB 304, noun only here and probably accidently omitted in 2Sa 22:2
2. my rock (twice) two different Hebrew roots
a. BDB 700 I cf. Psa 31:3; Psa 42:9; Psa 71:3
b. BDB 849 cf. Deu 32:4; Deu 32:15; Deu 32:30
3. my fortress BDB 845 II, KB 622, cf. Psa 31:3; Psa 71:3; Psa 91:2; Psa 144:2
4. my deliverer BDB 812, KB 930, Piel participle, cf. Psa 40:17; Psa 70:5; Psa 144:2
5. my God (El) in whom I take refuge BDB 340, KB 337, Qal imperfect, cf. Psa 2:12; Psa 5:11; Psa 7:1; Psa 11:1; Psa 16:1; Psa 25:20; Psa 31:1; Psa 37:40; Psa 57:1; Psa 61:3; Psa 64:10; Psa 71:1; Psa 118:8-9; Psa 141:8; Psa 143:9; Psa 144:2; Pro 30:5
6. my shield BDB 171, KB 545 I, cf. Psa 3:3; Psa 7:10; Psa 18:30; Psa 18:35; Psa 28:7; Psa 33:20; Psa 59:11; Psa 84:11; Psa 115:9-11; Psa 119:114; Psa 144:2; Pro 2:7; Pro 30:5
7. the horn of my salvation
a. horn (BDB 901) an idiom of power or strength, cf. Psa 75:10
b. horn may mean hill, cf. Isa 5:1; if so, it is similar imagery to fortress or stronghold (NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 991)
8. my stronghold BDB 960 I, KB 640, cf. Psa 9:9; Psa 46:7; Psa 46:11; Psa 48:3; Psa 59:9; Psa 59:16-17; Psa 62:2; Psa 62:6; Psa 94:22; Psa 144:2
9. the Lord who is worthy to be praised BDB 237, KB 248, Pual participle, cf. Psa 48:1; Psa 96:4; Psa 145:3
The accumulative effect of these words of safety, protection, and security is powerful and emotional. Life in a fallen world is hard, unfair, and unpredictable but then there is our God who is exactly the opposite!
Psa 18:1 love This word (BDB 933, KB 1216, Qal imperfect) is the same Hebrew root () as womb, but before we read too much into this, the same root also means vulture! Be careful of etymology as the only source for meaning. Context determines meaning!
The Qal stem of this verb is found only here and refers to man’s love for God. The Piel stem is much more common and is used of God’s compassion for covenant humanity (cf. Exo 33:19; Deu 13:17; Deu 30:3; Isa 14:1; Isa 27:11; Isa 30:18; Isa 49:10; Isa 49:13; Isa 54:8; Isa 54:10; Isa 55:7; Isa 60:10).
This verb is not paralleled in 2 Samuel 22 and BDB thinks it may have been added, possibly when the psalm became liturgical for the community.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Title. David. Like all Psalms of David, it finds its fulfilment in the true David. See the Structure of this book (p. 721). Compare Psa 18:4, Psa 18:5 with Psa 17:9. It is placed, as first written, in 2Sa 22; but it is edited and placed here to find its true relation to other Psalms. Why should not David have the right claimed by all other writers? to say nothing of the Holy Spirit’s right to do as He pleases and wills. It was edited for its place here, when it was handed over “to the chief Musician”. See the subscription, and App-64.
the servant. Compare Isa 42:1; Isa 49:6; Isa 52:13.
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
song. Hebrew. shirah. See App-65.
in the day. Compare 2Sa 22, and App-18.
delivered, &c. Compare Luk 1:74.
hand = paw.
I will love Thee = Fervently do I love Thee. Hebrew. raham, to yearn over. This verse was added by David when the Psalm was handed over to the chief Musician (subscription, and App-64) for use in public worship.
LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
strength. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Effect), App-6, for the source of all strength. Hebrew. hazak, strength (for holding fast); not the same word as verses: Psa 18:2, Psa 18:17, Psa 18:17, Psa 2:32, Psa 2:39.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 18:1-50
The eighteenth psalm has a long title to it. It is to chief musician. It is a psalm of David, the servant of Jehovah, who spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all of his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said,
I will love thee, O LORD, my strength ( Psa 18:1 ).
So that is all an introduction to the psalm, which is written in the Hebrew, just the introduction to the psalm. This evidently is the time when he was pursued and he escaped the hand of Saul and went down to Achish, because he speaks about dwelling, in the latter part, of dwelling among the heathen and all, and no doubt it was as he had fled from Saul to the Philistines so that Saul would not pursue him any more. And so now safe from the pursuit of Saul, having been delivered by the hand of God from Saul.
“I will love thee, O Lord my strength.”
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress ( Psa 18:2 ),
He had been actually been running in that rocky wilderness area around the Dead Sea, Engedi, and those rocky cliffs, hiding in those caves and using the rocks as a place of defense and as a fortress. “The Lord is my rock and my fortress,”
and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; he is my buckler, the horn of my salvation, and my high tower ( Psa 18:2 ).
All of these are defensive weapons of war. God is all of it. He is my defender. He keeps me. He is my high tower. He is my buckler. He is my strength.
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: and so shall I be saved from my enemies. For the sorrows of death encircled me, the floods of ungodly men ( Psa 18:3-4 )
All of the troops of Saul, he came out with several thousand men pursuing David. And David looked over there and saw all these guys and he knew they were after my hide. And they had encircled David. He was trapped. “The sorrows of death encircled me.”
The sorrows of hell encircled me about: the snares of death prevented to me. And in my distress I called upon the LORD, I cried unto my God: and he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even unto his ears ( Psa 18:5-6 ).
Now, out of His temple. The temple was not yet built in Jerusalem, but he is talking about God’s temple in heaven.
Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also the hills moved and were shaken, because of his anger. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: and coals were kindled by it. And he bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub [one of those angelic beings], and did fly: and he did fly upon the wings of the wind ( Psa 18:7-10 ).
And all of this is very beautiful poetic and picturesque speech. Of course, this was a song written in Hebrew type of poetry. Very descriptive and very beautiful indeed.
In verse Psa 18:16 he said,
He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has recompensed me ( Psa 18:16-20 ).
Verse Psa 18:25 ,
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with the upright man, you will show yourself upright; with the pure you will show yourself pure; with the forward you will show yourself forward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but will bring down the high looks. For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all of those that trust in him. For who is God save Jehovah? And who is a rock save our God? It is God that girded me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places. He teaches my hands to war, so that the bow of steel is broken by my arms. Thou hast also given me the shield of my salvation: and thy right hand hath held me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great ( Psa 18:25-35 ).
Interesting phrase, “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” And he goes on and tells how the Lord had subdued his enemies that were rising up against him. And then he, in verse Psa 18:43 ,
Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; you have made me the head of the heathen ( Psa 18:43 ):
He had actually gone been down in Ziklag, in the area of the Philistines, and he was the head of the city of Ziklag,
and of people whom I have not known shall serve me ( Psa 18:43 ).
Now this, of course, David was speaking of himself, but it became prophetic of Jesus and the gospel going unto the Gentiles.
The LORD liveth; blessed be my Rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted ( Psa 18:46 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 18:1. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.
I do love thee, and I will love thee yet more and more. I bind myself to thee for the future as well as the present.
Psa 18:2. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Note how David delights to heap up poetic imagery to describe his God.
They who glory in the Lord would fain speak worthily of him; and because there is no one object in nature that can fully set him forth, they mention many, as David does here. Like him, if we would convey even a faint idea of what God is to us, we must think of all things that are strong, and worthy of our confidence, and putting them all together, we must say that our God, our strength, in whom we trust, is all this, and much more,
Psa 18:3. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
Prayer brings salvation. Prayer must, however, be mingled with praise, for prayer and praise make up the breath of the Christian life. Have I not often reminded you that we breathe in the air of heaven by prayer, and then breathe it out again in grateful praise?
Psa 18:4-5. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
They were before me, behind me, all around my path whichever way I turned.
Psa 18:6. In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
What a difference there is between this living God of David, our living God, and that impersonal nonentity which, nowadays, is regarded by many as God. The god of the pantheist, what is he? A nobody and a nothing; but our God made the heavens; and our God heareth the prayer of all who truly cry unto him.
Psa 18:7. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
The cry of one of his oppressed children stirred him to anger. Nothing moves the heart of God like an injury done to his people. You remember how the prophet Zechariah wrote to the captive Jews in Babylon, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Psa 18:8-9. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.
In this wonderful poetic description, Jehovah is represented as descending from his throne at the cry of one of his children in distress.
Psa 18:10. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
So swift is prayer to reach the ear of God, and so swift is God to come and answer his peoples prayers.
Psa 18:11. He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
Like an Oriental king, who travels beneath his royal canopy, the Lord is pictured as coming to earth with the bursting clouds and opening heavens as the pavilion of the Deity.
Psa 18:12. At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
These are some of the weapons with which he assails the adversaries of his people. With this dread artillery, he smote Pharaoh of old, when he rained wrath upon the land of Egypt, and fire mingled with the hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground.
Psa 18:13-14. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
God himself came forth on his peoples behalf, and fought for them from heaven. As we read that the stars in their courses fought against Sisera, so did God make the very tempests in the skies to be like an invincible legion, sweeping before it the enemies of his anointed servant.
Psa 18:15-18. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity:
They went before him, they blocked his way.
Psa 18:18-19. But the LORD was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
Oh, how sweetly this record continues! Never was there a poem more lofty in its diction. Even Milton can not equal the language of this Psalm. This inspired writing rises superior to all human compositions, even if regarded only from the poetic point of view. But what must have been the psalmists experience when he was delivered after this wonderful fashion? And if God has delivered you and me in a quieter and gentler way, yet he has quite as surely delivered us; and blessed be his name from this time forth, and even for evermore!
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Psa 18:1-3
PRAISE OF GOD FOR DAVID’S VICTORY AGAINST SAUL
(For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of Jehovah, who spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: and he said):
Of all the Psalms accredited to David, “This is the one that can be assigned to him with the greatest confidence.” There is another record of this same Psalm, with only insignificant variations, in 2 Samuel 22.
The outdated, extravagant, and disproved allegations of radical critics which were popular in some schools of thought during the 19th and early twentieth centuries are no longer considered to have any importance whatever by thoughtful scholars. We shall here cite the efforts of Addis to deny this psalm to David, as examples of the type of radical criticism to which we refer.
He seized upon the word “temple” in Psa 18:6, applied it to Solomon’s temple (to which it has no reference whatever); and, as Solomon’s temple was not built till after David died, (1) therefore David could not have written it! Any university sophomore today would be able to cite Psa 11:4 in which the Hebrew parallelism makes it crystal clear that the word “temple” as used in the psalms is a reference, not to any earthly temple at all, but to “God’s residence in heaven.”
Jehovah is in his holy temple;
Jehovah, his throne is in heaven.
After the manner of Hebrew poetry, the second line here repeats the meaning of the first, so one may forget about when Solomon’s temple was built. It doesn’t make any difference. Dozens of the most dependable scholars confirm this usage of “temple” in the psalms.
Regarding the use of the word in Psa 18:6, Dummelow stated that it means “in heaven. “It may refer to `tabernacle,’ or to `heaven.’ “It refers either to heaven or to the tabernacle.?” “In 1Sa 1:9,1Sa 3:3, the same word translated `temple’ here refers to the tabernacle. Furthermore, Jacob referred to a place in an open field where he had that vision at Bethel, saying, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Gen 28:17). The word house in the Old Testament is the same as the word temple.
Also Addis founded his rejection of the Davidic authorship of this psalm upon the fact that, “Such language presupposes familiarity with the Pentateuch!” Of course, Addis denied the early existence of the Pentateuch and thought that the evident shadow of the Pentateuch which falls upon every page of the Old Testament was proof of a post-Davidic date for this psalm. Ridiculous. The Pentateuch was written during the Mid-Second Millennium Before Christ, as we proved beyond any shadow of doubt in our Commentary on Genesis. There are statements in Genesis which could not possibly have been written later than 1300 B.C.
We have spent many years studying the Bible; and we now know and are absolutely certain that the Pentateuch preceded every other book in the Old Testament. Both the Minor Prophets and the Major Prophets are absolutely filled with references to the Book of Moses, the Pentateuch. We have cited, in our writings, literally hundreds of such references.
Addis also gave as a third reason for his rejection of the Davidic authorship of this psalm its emphasis upon monotheism. Radical critics cannot seem to rise above their foolish notion that the Jews invented monotheism at some relatively late date. Noah, Melchizedek, Job, Abraham, Jonah and others were monotheists; and the notion that David could not have been a monotheist is impossible of acceptance.
Perhaps we have devoted a little more space to this phase of our study of this psalm than it deserves; but we have done so for the sake of young students who might be tempted by some of the old radical critics.
As John Calvin said, “Much of this psalm agrees better with Jesus Christ than with David”; and Paul’s application of verse 49 to the calling of the Gentiles by Jesus Christ also proves that there is a strong Messianic application for at least part of it.
As Leupold said, “There is every reason for accepting the heading and superscription of this psalm as accurate, no matter when or by whom they were attached to it.
Psa 18:1-3
“I love thee, O Jehovah, my strength.
Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
My God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge;
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
I will call upon Jehovah who is worthy to be praised:
So shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
Eight metaphors here praise God’s sufficiency as fulfilling every need for those who love him. “Strength, Rock, Fortress, Deliverer, Refuge, Shield, Horn, High Tower, etc., such graphic titles as these are all suggestive of impregnability.
Regarding the superscription in which Leupold manifested such confidence, McCaw likewise noted that the title there assigned to David, “The Servant of the Lord” is a highly honorable one; and that “Apart from two references to Joshua, it is almost always applied to Moses, or used prophetically of the Messiah.” This is another element entering into the impression that the psalm has Messianic implications.
“I love you, O Jehovah, my strength.” “Nowhere else in scripture is the form of the word employed which is used here for `love.’ It has special depth and tenderness.”
Watkinson has an interesting outline here on the subject of “Love.”
True Love:
I. The object of it was right.
A. Love of God, not nature.
B. Not humanity.
C. Not self.
D. Not the world.
II. The measure of it was right.
A. It was boundless.
B. It was everlasting.
III. The inspiration of it was right.
A. God is our strength.
B. Loving God assures victory.
C. He first loved us.
D. In Him is Life eternal.
“Horn of my salvation” (Psa 18:2). This is an ancient expression referring to strength, power, and ability. It may probably be derived from the utility of a bull’s horn.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 18:1-50. I have made one paragraph of this whole chapter because it is practically identical with 2 Samuel 22. Detailed comments are made on the chapter which is at the regular place in this commentary and will not be repeated here. The reason for giving the comments at the other place is the fact that it came in more direct connection with the history belonging to it. I will call attention to one special circumstance in the differences between the two chapters. The statements that are placed as a heading here are included in the text in 2 Samuel 22. When the collection of the Psalms of David was made into one book, the one he wrote at the time of his conflicts with Saul and other enemies was brought and included in the document. Since the two occurrences of the psalm are alike, the reader of the commentary would have no advantage offered him were I to repeat the comments in this place. I therefore urge him to see my remarks in the other place.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This is one of the most majestic and beautiful of the worship psalms. It is at once a perfect pattern of praise and therefore a great revelation of the method and might and mercy of God. So clear and simple is it in its movement and language that nothing need be said of it save, perhaps, to suggest an analysis to aid in its study.
Prologue of Praise (1-3). Here the psalmist pours out the gladness and gratitude of his heart which thrills with the highest spirit of adoration.
The Peril and Deliverance (4-19). The terrible nature of the peril is first made clear, and then the story of the might and majesty of Jehovah’s process is told and the fact of deliverance declared.
The Principle (20-29). The reason of the divine deliverance is declared and the truth of perpetual importance, that God is to man what man is to God, is bed.
The Resultant Confidence (30-45). Again the song breaks forth in almost tumultuous joy. Absolute confidence in God, and assurance of continued triumph are based upon experiences already gained of His goodness.
Epilogue of Praise (46-50). The anthem ends with further sentences which group the benefits conferred on the king by his God and attest his determination to praise God among the nations.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
a Wonderful Deliverance
Psa 18:1-26
There is another edition of this psalm in 2Sa 22:1-51. Psa 18:2 and Psa 18:49 are applied in the New Testament to the Lord Jesus, Heb 2:13 and Rom 15:9. We begin with the psalmists good resolve, Psa 18:1-3. No single metaphor can comprehend the whole of Gods helpfulness to men; but can we say, I love thee? See Joh 21:17. Thou knowest!
The story of the past, Psa 18:4-19. We also have our Red Seas. In our distress let us also cry. The voice of the sufferer may be weak and solitary, but it reaches through the gates of pearl and moves creation! Luk 8:46.
The confident claim of the righteous, Psa 18:20-26. We cannot boast a righteousness of our own, but we stand in Christ. We are full of impurity and evil, but we may claim at least integrity of motive. Compare Psa 18:26 with Lev 26:21-24. The wind blows in one direction; you can walk against it or with it-take your choice.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
This is another of the Psalms of David which undoubtedly sets before us in a very wonderful way some personal experiences which he passed through during those dark and difficult years when he was hunted by King Saul like a partridge on the mountains, when at times he despaired of his own life, and became so discouraged that he felt there was no help for him; but eventually in his greatest distress he looked up and realized that God was for him. While this Psalm, like so many others, sets forth experiences that David passed through, as we read it in the light of New Testament revelation we can see that the Spirit of Christ was speaking through David. Of course David himself was a sinful man and therefore when he speaks he necessarily says some things as he makes confession of his sins to God that our Lord Jesus Christ could not say, for He had no sin to confess. But on the other hand, when he speaks of his rejection, of the way he was spurned and set aside, hunted almost to death by his brethren whom he loved, and then when he tells of Jehovahs marvelous deliverance, it is not hard to see that David was a typical person and that his life and experiences set forth something of the life and experiences of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In these opening verses, as so often is the case in the Psalms, he gives us the consummation in the very begin- ning. He writes because his heart is overflowing with gratitude to God for His goodness. I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength, he exclaims. And then notice the many different figures of speech he uses in verse 2 to express his confidence in God. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. That expression, The horn of my salvation, may not be so clear to us as it would be to those who lived in the time that David wrote. The horn refers to the horns of the cattle on Lebanon, and it is used frequently in the Old Testament for a symbol of strength or of power. Think of one of those mighty bulls of Bashan pushing his way through all opposition with those great horns of his. David says, The Lordis the horn of my salvation-the strength of my salvation-and my high tower. I think you can get the picture if you think of a vast stony mountain rising up from the plain, right on the top of it a fortress, and at one corner of this a high tower and the enemy on the plain below. David says, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. And He gives all that is needed for furnishing by the way.
Years ago while working among the Laguna Indians, we were asked to speak at a little village called Pawate. We rode in large wagons drawn by horses (for it was in the days before automobiles) for some fourteen miles over rough roads until we reached this village. We had a meeting in the afternoon, and Indians from all about gathered. We started back at 4:30 or 5:00 oclock because we were to have a meeting at Casablanca that night. We had not gone very far when we saw a terrible storm was evidently to break over us. Soon we could see that the rain was pouring down at a distance and driving rapidly toward us. I said, We are certainly going to get soaked. Our driver replied, I hope not. I think we can make the rock before the storm reaches us. There is a great rock ahead and if we can make it we will be sheltered. We hurried on and soon saw a vast rock rising up from the plain, perhaps forty or fifty feet in height, covering possibly an acre or more of ground. As we drew near we saw a great cave going right into the rock. Instead of stopping to unhitch the horses, our driver drove right into the cave and in another minute or two the storm broke over the rock in all its fury. The storm raged outside and one of the Indians struck up in the Laguna tongue, Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee, and we realized the meaning of the poets words then as perhaps never before. I think David had something like that in mind. The Lord is my rock.
Then if you think of a great fortress above and a high tower on top of that you get the finished picture. The thought, of course, is that no matter what my circumstances may be, no matter what danger may threaten, the Lord is the all sufficient One. If you put your trust in Him, you will never be frightened any more. It is a great thing to be able to say, I will trust, and not be afraid (Isa 12:2). When we get so terrified because of circumstances, when so depressed because of conditions, it shows that we are not really confiding in God. When our blessed Lord was here on earth, nothing ever ruffled His spirit until that awful hour when He was facing the sin question on our behalf, and He could not have been the Holy One of God if that had not distressed Him deeply. But all the shame men heaped on Him, all the suffering He had to bear, the forsaking of His own and the misrepresentations that were circulated, none of these things distressed Him because He was resting in the will of the Father, and if you and I want to be overcomers in hours of temptation and trial we need to rest in God, to find our refuge in the rock, the fortress, the high tower.
And so the Psalmist says, I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. And then he tells us of a very bitter experience he went through. With David it was this, he came near to death. He said on one occasion, There is but a step between me and death (1Sa 20:3), for he felt as though, humanly speaking, all hope was gone and he had to face the terrors of death. He was a young man when going through those sufferings. He was only thirty years old when he was crowned king at Hebron. And so he describes the terrible condition of mind as he was facing death, and could see no way out until he called upon God, and then he depicts in graphic language the way God set all heaven, as it were, in motion for the deliverance of His afflicted child. David came near to death, and God delivered him; our blessed Lord Jesus Christ went down into death, and it was death under the divine judgment, the judgment due to sin, and that made it unspeakably awful to Him, but He went down into death with absolute confidence that God, His Father, was going to bring Him up out of it. I think we may see in this Psalm something of the power of His Resurrection, of which we read in the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 19, where the apostle prays that the saints may know what is the exceeding greatness of His [Gods] power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. It was a mighty act of power when God brought Christ up from the dead and then set Him at His own right hand, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion. These are different names for hosts of angels, some good, some evil. And every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.
Then look at Philippians 2. After we read of the humiliation of Christ, of the depths into which He descended, we read in verse 9, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. All created beings have to recognize the power and majesty of God that raised Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand.
Then turn to the Epistle to the Colossians, chapter 2, verses 13 and 14, where we read of His death on the Cross, And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. And in verse 15 we read, And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. These are evil principalities and evil powers, hosts of wicked angels, fallen angels-Having spoiled [made a prey of] principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. See how graphically David depicts this. Remember, the word David means Beloved and he is here a type of Christ, Gods beloved, going down into the sorrows of death. Verse 4, The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell [of Sheol, of the unseen world] compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God. Think of the blessed Lord hanging on the Cross and seeing before Him the awful pit into which men must go who reject His grace, and in His infinite loving kindness to sinners He goes down into that pit Himself.
The heavens are clothed with shades of night
While Jesus doth with demons fight.
And there on the Cross He faces death in all its terrible-ness as an expression of the judgment of God against sin, but He commits His soul to the Father. Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit (Luk 23:46).
He heard My voice out of His temple, and My cry came before Him, even into His ears. Surely you have never found in Scripture a more remarkable description of God acting in omnipotent power to bring Christ back from death than you get in these verses. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth. We read in the New Testament that there was a great earthquake And the graves were opened (Mat 27:52). There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. Listen to this, He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under His feet. It is God descending in power to raise His Son from the dead. He rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, He did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His secret place; His pavilion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before Him His thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave His voice; hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, He sent out His arrows, and scattered them; and He shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. Scattered whom? If you had been there that day when the blessed Christ of God lay in the tomb, you would have seen those soldiers on guard, and away off in the distance you would have seen the frightened groups of His disciples wondering what would happen next; but if your eyes had been opened, you might have seen hosts of wicked spirits, principalities and powers, Satan, the prince of the power of the air, all those hosts of wicked spirits hovering about that tomb saying, He must never come out. We have Him now where we want Him. It was the hour of Satans triumph, but see what happened.
Yea, He sent out His arrows, and scattered them; and He shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at Thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils. He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. Can you not see that David was picturing his experiences before his death, while this is a picture of our blessed Lord after He died, when omnipotent power raised Him from the dead? He drew me out of many waters-many waters of death. He was raised up by infinite power, and now as the risen One He begins to speak. Verse 19, He brought Me forth also into a large place: He delivered Me, because He delighted in Me. What else could God do when His blessed Son had settled the sin question, when He met every claim that divine righteousness had against guilty men, what else could God do but express His delight in His Son by raising Him from the dead?
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me, and I did not put away His statutes from me. I was also upright before Him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. David could not fully enter into all this. David, even in those days fleeing from Saul, often failed. How perfidiously he acted in the court of the Philistines, how he lost his temper in connection with the bad treatment that he received from Nabal and was only prevented from wreaking a fierce vengeance by the intercession of Abigail. But the One of whom he was a type was the sinless One who could say, The Lord rewarded Me according to My righteousness. Of course as far as doing any harm to King Saul was concerned, David could say, The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. But it is the Lord Jesus Christ who comes before us here as the absolutely righteous One, the One whom God exalted to His own right hand after He settled the sin question.
And now he sets forth the principles of divine government, in verses 24 to 30. Therefore hath the Lord recompensed Me according to My righteousness, according to the cleanness of My hands in His eyesight. With the merciful Thou wilt shew Thyself merciful; with an upright man Thou wilt shew Thyself upright; With the pure Thou wilt shew Thyself pure; and with the froward Thou wilt shew Thyself froward. Here are principles that we may well take to heart. Do you sometimes feel as though God is not treating you quite as you deserve? You may not say it in so many words, but have you not felt that way? I have had people say, I do not understand why God allowed this or that to come upon me. I am not conscious of any wrongdoing. Or some may say, I do not understand why people treat me as they do. Here is what the Word says, With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful. Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy (Mat 5:7). Do you know why God seems to be so hard on some of us? It is because we are so hard on other people. We judge so severely; we are so critical of other folk. As a rule people who are the most sensitive to criticism are those who are the most ready to criticize other folk. God is taking note of how we treat other people, and He is treating us in measure according to that. With an upright man Thou wilt shew Thyself upright. In other words, God will undertake for the upright man. With the pure Thou wilt shew Thyself pure; and with the fro-ward-that is, the self-willed-God will seem to show Himself self-willed. That is, He will visit chastisement upon the self-willed.
For Thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. If I want the favor of God, I must be sure that I am taking a lowly place before Him. As long as I justify myself, God can only condemn me but when I condemn myself, then God is there to justify me.
For Thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. No matter what the gloom around, faith can look up to Him and can count on Him to give the needed light. For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. He just imagines himself as one man with a great troop of the enemy before him but he fixes his heart on God and in perfect confidence in Him runs through them. Or, he sees a great wall around him, and they are hemming him in, and he says, By my God have I leaped over a wall. Faith just counts on God as the Deliverer. You remember what God said to Israel, If you walk with Me, obey My word, one of you shall chase a thousand and two of you shall put ten thousand to flight. And so we need never be afraid of the foe as long as we are really going on in fellowship with God.
Then we have that beautiful word, 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. Would it not be well if we all had this firmly implanted in our souls-God never makes any mistakes? Sometimes you have had an idea that He has made a few mistakes in connection with you; deep in your heart you have felt it but faith can stand with David and say, As for God, His way is perfect. Never any mistake. I may not understand the why of a great many experiences that God permits me to go through, but I will by and by.
When I stand with Christ on high,
Looking oer lifes history,
Then, dear Lord, shall I fully know,
Not till then, how much I owe.
And I will realize that all Gods ways with me were in perfect love and righteousness.
And now in the verses that immediately follow you have once more an expression of faith, of the Messiah in the days of His humiliation. For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. What had he said before? As for God, His way is perfect but if I walk in fellowship with God, It is God that maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds feet [that is, deers feet] and setteth me upon my high places. These particular hinds were found on the mountains. They were very sure footed and would leap from crag to crag. David says, He maketh my feet like hinds feet, and setteth me upon my high places. It is a great thing to have the faith that enables us to surmount the difficulties and rise above the mistakes of earth.
And then when we have to meet the foe, He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation: and Thy right hand hath holden me up. And now, is not this the spirit of Christ speaking through David, And Thy gentleness hath made me great? Who but Jesus could say that in all its fullness? And He says to us, Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Mat 11:29). We miss it so when we become so dignified and stern and hard in our ways with people. The Lord Jesus conquered by gentleness. Thy gentleness hath made me great. I picked up an old book in Canada one time, a history of the world, written back in the sixteenth century, printed in Old English type. I was thumbing through it, and I came down to the beginning of the Christian era and saw these words, It was in these days that that goodly Gentleman, Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem of Judea. I said to myself, Dear me, I never heard Him spoken of like that before. It gave me a shock for a moment, and then the next moment I thought, but what better term could describe Him, That goodly Gentleman? A Gentleman? What do you mean by that term? The idea some people have of a gentleman is a man that does not work for a living. But a gentleman is a gentle man, a man who is considerate of other people. If you want to be recognized as a gentleman, you must learn to be considerate of other people. When I was a boy my mother used to tell me that politeness is doing or saying the kindest thing in the kindest way. That is what Jesus did. Thy gentleness hath made me great.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed. David is speaking here of having triumphed and instead of fleeing from his enemies they are fleeing from him. The spiritual foes are now fleeing from the Lord Jesus. I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. For Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
And then look at verse 43 where we have a prophetic picture of our blessed Lord as Head of the new creation and Head over all the world when He reigns in power. Thou hast delivered Me from the strivings of the people; and Thou hast made Me the head of the heathen [of the nations]. Do not think that the word heathen always means idolaters. Our word was originally heath-men, men who lived in the wild places as contrasted with the cities. In other words, Thou hast made Me the head of the Gentile nations, and some day He will be manifested as such. A people whom I have not known shall serve Me. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not (Joh 1:11). As soon as they hear of Me, they shall obey Me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto Me. The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. The Lord liveth; and blessed be My rock; and let the God of My salvation be exalted.
In the closing verses he comes back to that with which he began. He strikes again, as it were, the key note of absolute confidence in Jehovah. It is God that avengeth Me, and subdueth the people under Me. 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. Therefore will I give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto Thy name. Great deliverance giveth He to His king; and sheweth mercy to His anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore. We know who His King is. David was a faint foreshadow of the true King. And sheweth mercy to His anointed [His Messiah, the beloved] to David, and to his seed for evermore. David was promised that his seed should reign for ever and ever. The only way that could ever be is through Davids Son triumphing over death, never to die again, and that is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Psa 18:28
There are three dark shadows which fall across every human life.
I. There is, first of all, the shadow of sin. It falls dark and thick upon the life of human beings. Sin is the transgression in will or in fact of the eternal moral law, of that law which, unlike the law of nature, could not be other than what it is, unless God could be other than what He is, of that law which is not an arbitrary enactment of His will, but the outflow of the expression of His very being. Sin thus is the contradiction of God, the resistance of the created will to the will of the Creator. And this resistance means darkness, not in the sky above our heads, but, far worse, darkness in the moral nature, darkness in the moral intelligence, darkness at the centre of the soul.
II. The shadow of pain. As the races and generations pass, whatever else may distinguish them from each other, whatever else they may have in common, they pass each and all, sooner or later, under the weird shadow of pain. How to deal with pain, how to alleviate it, how to do away with it-these have been questions which men have discussed for thousands of years; and anodynes there are, such as they are, for pains of body and pains of mind, anodynes of very varying moral worth, but of which this much must be said, that they do but at most curtail the fringe of the great realm of pain.
III. The shadow of death. The thought that death must come at last casts over thousands of lives a deep gloom. There is the uncertainty of the time and manner of its approach; there is the unimaginable experience of what in itself it will be; there is the dread of what may or may not follow it.
Sin, pain, death-these are the three shadows that fall across the life of men in this day of preparation for the great future; and that our Lord makes these dark shadows to be light is the experience in all ages of thousands of Christians. Only a robust faith in the unseen, only the faith of our Lord and God, can relieve the human heart when face to face with these solemn and irremovable conditions of our human life. So long as they last, the religion of the Crucified will last too.
H. P. Liddon, Contemporary Pulpit Extra No. 4, p. 92.
Psa 18:30
I. Consider this great and deep utterance in application to God’s material works. Let us look at the various phenomena that are around us, and we shall see that the light, and air, and heat, and cold, and the heavenly bodies, the laws of electricity, the various kinds of climate under which men are living-all these are marvellously adapted to the end for which they are designed. All that came from the hand of God was very good, and it is the entrance and result of moral evil that has brought an apparent imperfection into the world, so that we are unable to look at the material works of God without having to qualify what the Psalmist says.
II. So it is in God’s government of the world. Notwithstanding all that has been said about the Fall, and the present want of symphony and harmony in things, and the strange, bewildering tokens that something has gone wrong and made imperfect that which seems destined to be perfect, we maintain that when the issues of God’s government in the world shall be known it shall be found true that His way was perfect.
III. This truth might be applied to the Gospel. If we look at man on the one hand and at God on the other, and at what the Gospel is designed to accomplish, we can see that God’s way is perfect.
IV. The text may be brought to bear on God’s dealings with His people individually. It is a text to be laid hold on by faith. God never put a wrong burden on anybody’s back. His child must be educated, and trained, and disciplined, because he has to be brought home.
V. If by faith we are enabled to use the text now, with all life’s riddles to puzzle out, and when we have all God’s dark dealings to try us, a day is coming when all these mysteries will be cleared up in the flooding light of eternity, and the song of the saints will be, “As for God, His way is perfect.”
J. C. Miller, Penny Pulpit, No. 1035.
Psa 18:35
Consider how the gentleness of a loving correction makes God’s children great. For we ought, all of us, to wish to be great-great in the school of Christ, great in the Divine life, great in holiness, great in usefulness. There could not be a worse mistake than telling any Christian to crush or to curb his ambition. It is one of those natural passions which are virtues or vices according to their end. As an end, ambition is self, and therefore sin. As a means to God’s glory, ambition is the highest grace. Point your ambition right, and then push it to the utmost.
I. We all have felt how we are always getting under the power of the little, everyday circumstances in which we live, and how, whatever may be our exceptional elevations, we are drawn down habitually to the lowness of the level of our common life. A real sorrow is a great liberator: it takes us out of the old groove of triviality; it restores things to their right proportion, making the little great, and the great little. Correction, whatever else it does, sets a man free, and puts him in a position that he may become great.
II. A time of sorrow is, and must be, a time of thought. And what most of us want is to be brought really to think. It is not too much to say that every one who is at the pains to think, and to think truly, will become great. But it specially leads us to think about our own state before God, for as soon as ever we are in sorrow it is in the gentleness of God that He wishes to comfort us.
III. Loving correction brings us into contact with the greatness of God. If a mind is conversant with what is great, it must become greater. There is a dignity in grief, and God only matches with that dignity.
IV. It is the great humiliation of sorrow which makes it magnifying. For what is greatness? Humility. And there is no humbler like a great sorrow.
V. But, above all, it is because it unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ that correction makes us great. There is nothing great before God but Christ; and every other thing is great before God as He sees it in Christ, as it is identified with Christ.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 4th series, p. 245.
I. We find rising out of these words the question, What is the greatness which in the Christian is produced by God’s gentleness? It is excellence in that for which especially man was originally created. Now, as we learn from Scripture that man was made in the image of God, it follows that men are great in the proportion in which they are like Him. The greatness of manhood is greatness in holiness. It is a moral thing, for the truest manliness and the highest Godlikeness are convertible terms.
II. Consider how God’s gentleness can be said to make us great. The human heart is always more deeply affected by tenderness than by sternness. If you wish to drag a man by force, his nature is to resist you; but if you attempt to attract him by love, it is equally his nature to follow you. God, who has given us this nature, seeks to save us in accordance with it. (1) God has manifested His gentleness in the mission and work of Jesus Christ, and makes proclamation of pardon and regeneration to every one who will accept them through His Son. (2) The words of the text are verified in the manner in which God receives individuals into His love, and so begins in them the greatness of holiness. (3) The truth of the text is made apparent also in the manner in which God in Christ Jesus trains His people after they have come to Him. He teaches them more and more of His grace; yet, in truest tenderness, He teaches them as they are able to bear it.
This subject has a twofold application. (1) It presents Jehovah to the sinner in a very affectionate attitude. (2) It shows the Christian how he should seek to bring others to Jesus. The gentleness of God should be repeated and reproduced in us.
W. M. Taylor, Limitations of Life, and Other Sermons, p. 344.
I. The longsuffering of God declares His power. What He does not punish now, He can punish by-and-bye; what He does not punish here, He can punish there; what not in this world, in the next. He is, in the words of the Psalmist, “strong and patient,” patient because He is strong, because all power belongeth unto Him.
II. The longsuffering of God is a declaration of His love, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He sees the saint in the sinner, the saint that shall be in the sinner that is, the wheat in the tare, the shepherd feeding the sheep in the wolf tearing the sheep.
III. This tardiness of vengeance, this lame foot with which it seems to lag and halt after successful wickedness, is no pledge of safety to the sinner. It argues no listlessness, no moral indifference to the eternal distinctions between good and evil, on the part of Him who is the Judge of the whole earth, and by whom actions are weighed. It means (1) that Christ has died for sinners, and (2) that God can afford to wait. Flee from Him thou canst not. To flee to Him is thy only way of deliverance.
R. C. Trench, Sermons in Westminster Abbey, p. 339.
I. Greatness is always a work of time. This is true even of apparent greatness, mere elevation of state. Emphatically is it true that moral greatness is a work of time. Character is a growth, generally a very slow growth. We must not give up our assurance of Christian excellence; that were to abandon our hope of heaven. Neither must we suppose that so great an achievement can only be accomplished by stormy and violent ways. The “hidings of power” are the mark of God. His “gentleness” makes us great.
II. God must be gentle; for gentleness is a sign of perfection.
III. The idea of God’s gentleness comes out of our knowledge of His unchangeableness.
IV. Consider the influence of God’s gentleness on Christian character: it makes us great. (1) Two of the prime elements of personal greatness-nobility of purpose and purity of motive-are directly stimulated by the gentleness of God. (2) Wisdom is another element of greatness; and we need time that we may be wise. (3) Steadfastness in its two forms-perseverance in good resolve and patience under difficulty-is given us by the gentle dealing of our God.
V. This subject throws light on our perplexities (1) about conversion; (2) about Christian perfection.
A. Mackennal, Life of Christian Consecration, p. 67.
God’s gentleness lies in His consenting to the use of indirection as a way of gaining His adversaries. Force and cruel absolutism are put by; the irritations of a jealous littleness have no place; and the great God and Father, intent on making His children great, follows them and plies them with the gracious indirections of a faithful and patient love.
I. Observe how far off this gentleness is from the practice, and even capacity generally, of mankind. True greatness is a character too lofty for any but the greatest and most Divinely tempered souls.
II. Some evidence will be demanded that God pursues any such method of indirection, or of rectorial gentleness, with us. See then (1) how openly He takes this attitude in the Scriptures. (2) It is the very genius of Christianity to prevail with man, or to bring him back to obedience and life, by a course of loving indirection. When a soul is really born of God, it will be the result of what the Spirit has wrought, by a long, and various, and subtle, and beautiful process, too delicate for human thought to trace. (3) We see this gentleness in God’s management of our experience. Doing everything to work on our feeling, temperament, thought, will, and so on our eternal character, He still does nothing by direct impulsion.
III. The end God has in view is to make us great. He has a much higher respect for the capabilities of our human nature, and much higher designs concerning it, than we have ourselves. While God is ever engaged in bringing down our loftiness in evil and perversity, He is just as constantly engaged in making us loftier and stronger in everything desirable-in capacity, and power, and all personal majesty. He wants to make us great in will, in intellect, in courage, enthusiasm, self-respect, firmness, superiority to things and matters of condition, great in sonship with Himself.
IV. Holding such a view of God’s ends and the careful indirections by which He pursues them, we cannot fail to note (1) the softened aspect given to what are often called the unaccountable severities of human experience. (2) How strangely weak and low is the perversity of many when they require it of God to convert them by force, or drive them heavenward by storm. (3) Let us adjust our conceptions to that which is the true pitch and scale of our magnanimity and worth as Christian men. Be it ours to live with a sense of our high calling upon us; abiding in all the holy magnanimities of love, honour, sacrifice, and truth; sincere, exact, faithful, bountiful, and free; showing thus to others, and knowing always in ourselves, that we do steadily aspire to just that height of good into which our God Himself has undertaken to exalt us.
H. Bushnell, Christ and His Salvation, p. 18.
References: Psa 18:35.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., No. 683; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 100; E. Leach, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 232; Bishop Woodford, Sermons on Subjects from the Old Testament, p. 105; C. J. Vaughan, Voices of the Prophets, p. 215.
Psa 18:50
This is Christ’s resurrection psalm; He is the King, and the deliverance spoken of not in this verse only, but frequently throughout the Psalm, is specially His deliverance, His deliverance as the Representative of His own. It is a psalm of deliverance or salvation; the two words are the same. The whole history of the Bible from beginning to end pertains to what God calls deliverance.
I. First of all, we find in David’s history a history of deliverance. David was a man of like passions with ourselves, not faultless, not perfect, but falling again and again into sin, and yet plucked out of that iniquity into which he fell by the interposing hand of Him who had great deliverances always in store for him.
II. Israel’s history is a history of deliverance, and very remarkably so. Each section of Israel’s history contains a gospel for us. Each one of Israel’s deliverances proclaims glad tidings of great joy to us in our weakness, weariness, and exposure to continual danger from enemies on the right hand and on the left.
III. Then you have, in the third place, Christ’s history as a history of deliverance, Messiah’s history. His deliverances were ours, and as such we are to regard them, and to triumph in them. He was saved from the hands of His enemies that we also might be saved.
IV. The history of the Church is a history of deliverance-deliverances just at the time when she was lowest, deliverances which put a new song in her mouth, and sent her on a new career of gladness and usefulness.
V. The history of each believer is a history of deliverance-deliverance from first to last, deliverance at the hand of the faithful Deliverer, He who came in the name of the Lord to save us, who is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.
H. Bonar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 177.
References: Psalm 18-A. Maclaren, Life of David, p. 153; I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 315. Psa 19:1.-R. Lee, Sermons, pp. 279, 294, 308, 325, 342, 359; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 195.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Psalm 18
The Story of Gods Power in Behalf of Christ
1. In the jaws of death (Psa 18:1-6)
2. God appearing and delivering (Psa 18:7-18)
3. God gave Him glory (Psa 18:19-27)
4. His enemies subdued (Psa 18:28-42)
5. The head of the nations (Psa 18:43-45)
Psa 18:1-6. This is another remarkable Psalm. Though David wrote it not everything could be his experience. He was a prophet (Act 2:30) and prophesied; much in this Psalm is prophecy describing the deliverance of Christ from the jaws of death and the glory God has given Him, and this deliverance and glory also concerns the remnant of His earthly people in that day. The Psalm begins with an outburst of praise and it ends with His praise among the nations. Hebrew authorities tell us that the proper translation of The LORD is my Rock is Jehovah, my cleft of the rock. It is Christ the rock, cleft for us, in whom the believer has found His refuge. And He Himself was saved from His enemies and in Him His people are saved and will be saved from their enemies (Psa 18:3). It is His own death experience which is described in Psa 18:4-6. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of Belial (marginal reading) made me afraid. Then in His distress He called and cried unto God and was heard.
Psa 18:7-18. In these verses we have the answer in behalf of Christ. It is a wonderful description of Gods power and His appearing. It is the manifestation and glory of Jehovah in deliverance. He sent from above, He took me, He drew me from great waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hate me for they were too strong for me. This describes His resurrection.
At the same time while all this shows His experience as the author and finisher of the faith, it is also the experience of His trusting people, and the deliverance of that remnant living during the tribulation period.
Psa 18:19-27. The Lord has recompensed Him for His righteousness. He not only raised Him from the dead but gave Him glory. He was brought forth into a large place. He was delivered because God delighted in Him and He has rewarded Him. Verse 23 as it stands in the authorized version can not apply to Christ. It is in fact a poor translation. The translation in the Numerical Bible is very satisfactory. I was also perfect with Him and kept myself from perverseness being mine.
Psa 18:28-42. He will save an humble people and all His enemies will be conquered by Him. While much in this section was Davids experience, who overcame all his enemies, in its prophetic meaning it must apply to the Lord Jesus. Psalm 18:37-42 speak prophetically of this coming great victory when all His enemies will be made the footstool of His feet.
Psa 18:43-45. He becomes the head of the nations. Thou hast made me the head of the nations cannot apply to David and his experience, but it is Davids Son and Davids Lord who will head the nations of the earth. It is the coming kingdom which is described in verse 44. As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me, the strangers (Gentiles) shall submit themselves unto me. The marginal reading is suggestive, they shall yield feigned obedience unto Me, which tells us that the obedience of many during the kingdom reign of our Lord will not be whole-hearted and therefore the revolt at the end of the thousand years (Rev 20:1-15). His praise will then be heard among the nations (Psa 18:49-50).
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
in the day: Psa 34:19, Exo 15:1-21, Jdg 5:1-31, 1Sa 2:1-10, Isa 12:1-6
I will: Psa 116:1-6, Psa 144:1, Psa 144:2, 1Jo 4:19
my: Psa 18:32, Psa 28:7, Psa 28:8, Psa 118:14, Isa 12:2, Phi 4:13, Col 1:11
Reciprocal: Gen 19:19 – and thou Gen 49:24 – the mighty Exo 15:2 – strength Exo 18:4 – delivered Deu 10:12 – love 1Sa 26:24 – let him deliver 2Sa 7:1 – the Lord 2Sa 12:7 – I delivered 2Sa 22:1 – in 1Ch 16:7 – into the hand 1Ch 17:8 – have cut off Psa 7:10 – My Psa 19:14 – strength Psa 21:8 – General Psa 22:19 – O my Psa 27:1 – strength Psa 31:2 – my strong rock Psa 36:1 – servant Psa 59:9 – his strength Psa 59:17 – O my Psa 81:1 – our strength Psa 140:7 – the strength Son 1:7 – O thou Isa 38:9 – writing Jer 16:19 – my strength Nah 1:7 – strong hold Hab 1:12 – mighty God Hab 3:19 – my strength Heb 13:6 – The Lord 1Jo 4:16 – we
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
God manifesting Himself for His Anointed.
(To the chief musician: [a psalm] of David, the servant of Jehovah, who spake unto Jehovah the words of this song, in the day when Jehovah had delivered him out of the grasp of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. And he said:)
We come now, in the third psalm of this series, to the manifestation of God in behalf of Messiah, whose deliverance and exaltation involve the deliverance and blessing of the people with whom He has linked Himself. But the result is wider than this also: He is made the Head of the nations, and a people that He had not known before serve Him.
But a large part of the psalm is taken up with the way in which God has displayed Himself in all this, -His personal intervention, His character as manifested, -all that makes Him the object of His people’s praise. And this revelation of Himself is, as this implies, their blessing and happiness forever, as it is that of all His creatures, -unfallen and redeemed alike.
This psalm is found also at the end of David’s history in the book of Samuel,* the occasion of it being given similarly in each place, and the end of the psalm itself assuring us of its application to David in the first place, though a greater than he shines through continually. At this we have no possible cause to wonder, knowing him to be in his life so largely typical of God’s “Beloved” and King, for whom we look.
{*A comparison with Samuel will show, however, many differences, for the most part slight, which the known MSS. give us no help in removing, and which, therefore, we may suppose to be designed, even though we may not have read our Bibles carefully enough to apprehend their meaning.}
In perfect accord with its character, the first forty-five verses of the psalm are in triplets throughout; these dividing into six main portions, the seventh closing with five verses of praise.
1. The psalm begins, as it ends, with praise. Jehovah, the living and unchanging God, is celebrated in it as the Rock of faith, and that in double character: the first word “means properly,” as Delitzsch observes, “a cleft in a rock, then a cleft rock”; the second, a great and hard mass of rock.” Accordingly, in the first, “the idea of a safe (and comfortable) hiding-place preponderates”; in the second, “that of firm ground and inaccessibility. The one figure calls to mind the well-watered Edomitish Sela, surrounded with precipitous rocks, . . . the other calls to mind the Phoenician rocky island Tzur (Tyre), the refuge in the sea.” The cleft Rock is a figure for the Christian full of tender, wonderful associations; the firm, impregnable, eternal Rock, yet cleft for a refuge to the soul fleeing to it for escape. And this double thought is varied and expanded through all these epithets with which the psalmist declares the good cause he has for fervent love toward his God. They are capable also of double application, as the language of the Lord, or of those whom we have seen that He here identifies Himself with and represents. We shall find, of course, in this as in other psalms, passages in which One personality shines out, forbidding association of any other with it. We may find, perhaps, those in which it is easier at least to recognize the many for whom He stands (or some of these), than it is their Representative. This we may expect. One passage (verse 23) which, as it reads in the common and other versions, could not be applied to Him, should receive, it is believed, another meaning. In general,we may expect to find unmistakably through these psalms the Voice like which there is no other, while yet we shall sufficiently discern that He who speaks has linked Himself with others, so that His cause and theirs are one.
The third verse gives the realization of Jehovah as the rock of the soul: “I call upon Jehovah, the object of my praise, and I am saved from my enemies.” This is what he who speaks has found; and all that follows here is the expansion of it.
2. Accordingly we go back to the “strait” out of which he cries to God, and is answered. And once more we find that it is the shadow which darkens the world which he is facing. The toils of death are round him, escape shut off; and it is death as we have seen it, and as the conscience recognizes it, -death as the doom of sin.
The words are simple enough, but all the more has their meaning to be gathered from their context and connections, rather than learned directly. And this is characteristic of the psalms, as it is of much of the Old Testament. We have to bring in the light of the New in order to be able to see what is hidden in it for us: it is the Old Testament itself that bids us remember that “it is the glory of God to conceal a thing,” as it is “the honor [or glory] of kings to search out a matter.” (Pro 25:2.) Would that in this research into Scripture “kings” were more plentiful!
Here the person of the speaker is of all importance; and however He may identify Himself with others, in this psalm it is Christ who is this throughout. Thus, when He says “the torrents of Belial put me in fear,” we have to consider in what sense it would be possible for Him to say this. Belial -though it seems better to anglicize than to translate the Hebrew word means, evidently, “worthlessness,” the “ungodly men” of the common version, which the revised changes into “ungodliness.”* The word is, indeed, much more than the English one, of a moral significance very positive, and not negative merely. In the moral and spiritual spheres, there is nothing merely negative: simple indifference here is crime. Thus Belial is used in the New Testament as standing for the direct opposite of Christ; and the “sons of Belial,” in the language of the Old, are always those lawless ones who,whenever the occasion arises, manifest themselves as law-breakers, hostile to God and man. The “torrents of Belial” are undoubtedly such corrupt and lawless men; only marking their wickedness as that which produces fear in Him who speaks here. Their power, whatever it were, surely could not, any more than death could in its physical suffering, or in aught beyond it. For Him, the sting of it would be as judgment from God; and such it was, of necessity, for Him who took it as the Sin-bearer and Substitute for sinners. Thus wrath was in it, separation from Him who was of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, though this was upon Him only.
{*”Perdition,” “the abyss,” -adopted by Delitzsch and others, are not justified by the texts appealed to, such as Psa 41:8, Nah 1:11, and 2Co 6:15 : these do not depart from the regular meaning.}
“The torrents of Belial” must then have “put Him in fear,” by the horror of what sin was to Him, as He realized it in the light in which He lived with God, from the joy of that well-known, glorious Presence, earth itself but the footstool of Deity. He had come into it but to do, amid sorrow and suffering, the Father’s will, which man could violate at his pleasure, and count it pleasure, and imagine it freedom to do so! For this He was to die, taking the sinner’s place; men like these -His creatures, with His stamp defaced in them -driving the nails which fastened Him to the cross, plunging the spear into His side, sealing Him up in His grave, defying Him to come out of it again! Giving Himself up freely to all this, while struck with the awful horror of it all, well might He exclaim, “The torrents of Belial put me in fear!”
Sin itself, -just to know it aright, could it be known fully, -in a soul where there was no callousness such as it induces, -what a supreme agony would it be!
And the due of sin, -to bear that death, as no saint has known, -as no sinner could ever know it, -the living death of the Heir and Fountain of Life; the Life eternal proving the nameless woe of the shadow of death, where faith could no more say, “But Thou art with Me.”
It is impossible to speak of it aright. Scripture itself leaves the veil upon it. Those who, moved by the Spirit of God to give us the story of the cross, as from their various points of view they regard it, stand in the hush of the night that falls, pointing, as it were in silence, to the sacred Figure “lifted up from the earth,” and upon its head the crown of thorns.
“I cry . . . and Thou answerest not,” are the words of the psalm of atonement; but then again, “when He cried unto Him, He heard.” (Psa 22:2; Psa 22:24.) Both things, of course, true: each suited in its place. The psalm here celebrates the hearing, and that out of the sanctuary, -the answer of God in His holiness to the Holy One: with that answer, and its result in blessing for the people of God (that is, for Israel and the millennial nations,) the rest of the psalm is occupied.
3. We have now therefore the appearing of God in behalf of His suffering Holy One. But when we come to the detail of this intervention, while it may well apply to the accompaniments of the resurrection of Christ, and no doubt has this in view, on the other hand the description as a whole irresistibly reminds us of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. Indeed the actual theophany, the heavens bowed as God comes down, the judgment executed upon the enemies, ending with the exaltation of Christ over the nations of the earth, -all this connected as it is together, carries us on to events yet future, when God will out-do the wonders in Egypt in a new deliverance of Israel from the hands of the nations their enemies, and bring in the final blessing of which prophecy is full. (Mic 7:15.) This accounts for the apparent glance back at the exodus; while it is really the answer of God to Christ’s work of atonement, which accounts equally for His voice being heard as it is, all through. Thus we find the same representative character of the Lord as in the previous psalm, and the confirmation of the view of that which has been already taken.
(a.) The twelve verses of this section, one might expect to have the usual 3 x4 division, and so they have. The first three show us God as the Almighty, the earth and the heavens bearing witness to His power alike. The earth to the foundations of the hills trembles before Him; His wrath is a consuming fire; the heavens are bowed under Him as He comes down. This witness of nature to His presence, readily as we understand it, and simple as it really is, has yet lessons for us which would serve us well if they were better learned. Creation is not only a mirror of divine perfections: it is pervaded by His power, and sensitive to His slightest movement. There is an intimate sympathy thus between the natural and spiritual, which we feel far better than we can explain, and which makes the face of nature a constant parable of spiritual things. This, superstition has misused on the one hand, while on the other the growing wisdom of the day, with its continual fresh discovery of governing laws, loses sight of or refuses what it helps to demonstrate. For laws governing without a governor are themselves an irrational superstition, no less so because a profane one. There is in nature, as they own, an inscrutable power which transcends it; and this, too, a “power that makes for righteousness.” Christianity alone tells us Whose this power is.
(b.) In the second triplet of verses the Almighty becomes the Judge.* The cherub, from the first view in Eden to its Apocalyptic representatives in the last book of the New Testament, is always connected with divine government, -the throne of God as ruling over the earth. The ark and mercy-seat are still this throne in relation to Israel, and the cherubim there are of one piece with the latter, their faces looking to the place where the atoning blood is sprinkled before God. He was said to dwell between the cherubim and these express the executive righteousness of the throne; and in their fourfold character as lion, ox, with the face of a man, and flying eagle, we find represented power, patient service, intelligence, and yet inscrutability. (Pro 30:19.) The riding upon the cherub here, therefore, indicates judicial action, and the “wings of the wind” combine the speed and power of the storm blast, a figure which the next verses carry on.
{*A new symbolism for the number two; but “judgment” is in fact discernment; that is, division, separation, putting a difference, and thus comes rightly under this number.}
Yet in judgment God is rather hidden than displayed: it is His “strange work.” Thus He makes the darkness His covert. It is His contrary, inasmuch as He is love and light; and yet He uses it as His pavilion, and, while not it, is in it. The judgment, where it comes, is in fact, in its most awful feature, separation from Him, -from the Light; while it is yet not merely that. From these thick clouds the light flashes forth, -hailstones and coals of fire (see Exo 9:13-35, notes); for God is displayed even in the judgment that separates from Him.
(c.) The third triplet gives the full display. It is now plainly Jehovah who thunders in the heavens, and the Most High who gives His voice. And we see where the bolt strikes: His arrows are lightnings, with which Messiah’s enemies are scattered and discomfited. The earth is laid bare to its foundations, and the channels of waters are seen: words which remind us of Israel’s passage of the Sea, and which may find in the future also their fulfillment in the drying up of the Euphrates. (Rev 16:12.)
The judgment of God is also the revelation of the earth at all times, and will finally declare the moral character of all its history. This is one great end of prophecy, to enable us beforehand to judge with God the condition of things through which we are now passing, according to that final judgment in which we find them to end. And that final disclosure will it not be in some sense also the eternal safeguard of His people from all the power of evil, the springs of which will be then laid bare? Scripture speaks of that day as the day of manifestation; and this will not be surely of the individual merely to himself, but of all in the presence of all; making all to see light in God’s light. Will not the “holiness of truth” be thus fully confirmed and established for eternity, sealed with the broad seal of God, and demonstrated by the example of all, evil and good alike? Will not the books that are opened then be in effect and effectively the Deuteronomy of the land so reached for every pilgrim?
(d) We now come to the experience of the deliverance, in which we find expressions of weakness,which might at first make one doubt as to its being the Lord’s voice that is heard at all here. But the connection would assure us of it, and the place of thorough human dependence is that which He takes all through the psalm. Thus it was that, having assumed the burden of sin, and laying down His life, He committed Himself in peace into the Father’s hand, to take again from Him the life laid down. The language of the sixteenth psalm we have seen to be the expression of this confidence: “therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest securely: because thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor wilt Thou suffer Thy pious One to see corruption.” Thus resurrection is His justification from God, the seal put upon His completed work; the justification, therefore, of all for whom He stands, -of all who through grace believe in Him. In this identification of Himself with them, He comes for the moment into the place of weakness and simple dependence upon the arm of Another for deliverance.
“He reached from above, He took me: He drew me out of many waters.” In the last clause of the sentence we have a word only used once beside in the explanation of the name given to Moses, and from which that was derived; but the reference is only by way of comparison; for a greater than Moses is here. “He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.” Thus the deliverance is the manifestation and glory of Jehovah Himself. “They confronted me in the day of my calamity: but Jehovah was my stay.”
Jehovah’s character is thus brought out, as it is the glory of the gospel in every part, that it reveals Him. We “believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” Thus we know Him to be for us, in His righteousness as well as in His love, and that very attribute which we had most reason to dread as sinners, is that upon which, because of the work of Christ for sinners, we can rest with undisturbed security. It is His righteousness that justifies the believer in Jesus. It is His righteousness that we are “made” to be now “in Christ.” (2Co 5:21.)
4. But we are now to be shown the character of the One for whom God thus comes in; and in this section, under the number which speaks both of testing and practical walk, we have (set side by side with the character of God Himself) His assured and perfect claim to be heard and answered. Nothing is more unmistakable in the Lord, as we see Him in the full truth of manhood upon earth, than the distinct and emphatic assumption of unspotted perfection at all times. “Meek and lowly in heart” though He was, and clear in His enunciation of man’s fallen condition, He never for a moment takes His place among men in any sense that could imply the slightest resemblance to them in this respect. His separateness is indeed so plain that He need not much assert it. Yet He can say as the ground of the Father’s constant presence with Him (manifested as it was by His mighty works), -“I do always those things that please Him.” And to His opposers even can put as a question admitting but of one answer, “Which of you convinceth Me of sin?” (Joh 8:29; Joh 8:46.)
The psalmist maintains here for the One he personates a similar perfection, which David for himself, in his “last words,” disclaims. So, indeed, might any among mere men. It is He in whom, opening the heavens to do so, the Father proclaims His delight, who is, as we have seen, the real Speaker, -the true David, who is also David’s seed.
(a) The divine delight in Him has its ground and justification in His perfect obedience. He is righteous not only in intent, but in the cleanness of His hands also. With Him is not the misery of shortcoming of the end of His desire and aim. What He designs He carries through. As He speaks so He is; and His speech is with fullest knowledge. Thus He can say, “I have kept Jehovah’s ways”; and His recompense is according to His righteousness.
(b) The measurement of all with Him is not by His own thoughts either. He is not a law to Himself, nor does He do simply what is right in His own eyes. Knowing what He is, one might perhaps expect that; and if inspiration were the weak and fallible thing which men now make it, you could not account for the absolute respect which He who even as man had the Spirit given Him without measure, ever paid it. “But how, then, should the Scripture be fulfilled?” was with Him a decisive argument. On the cross, with the parching thirst of the crucified upon Him, it is only “that the Scripture might be fulfilled,” that He gives voice to this craving. Truly could He say, then, “All His judgments were before Me; nor did I put His statutes from Me.” This was no desultory or fragmentary or unbalanced obedience. All was in due proportion and perfect symmetry. It was obedience: the will of God recognized and governing Him in all things.
“I was also perfect with Him,” He says: “and I kept myself from perverseness being mine.” * The word rendered “iniquity” in the common version, it is agreed means “perverseness,” -the spirit that would distort or turn aside the force of the divine commands. And again He affirms that Jehovah has recompensed Him according to His righteousness, and according to the cleanness of His hands before those holy eyes.
{Verse 25, “Merciful” is not an adequate rendering for chasid, nor do we seem able to give the antithesis in English “pious” cannot be applied to God, nor is “holy” the force as applied to Him. The term as suiting God and man together here should express the affectionate sense of relationship on man’s part towards God, and on His part towards man.}
{*The translation here, which differs from that adopted in 2Sa 22:1-51, though not the simplest, is, I think, the real meaning of me-avoni. Geier, Delitzsch, and Cheyne agree that this is the sense, and there does not seem any way of reconciling “my iniquity” with the perfection of the man, Christ Jesus.}
Now the character of God is put side by side with this. He deals with men according to what He sees them to be. The disposition they show toward Him He shows in like manlier toward them: the attitude which they assume He assumes; while of course His grace beseeches them to change that which is estranged and hostile, and to be reconciled to Him. But this last has no application to Him who is before us here, and does not therefore come in.
Then He brings low the lofty and saves the humble; and death is that by which God levels all the pride of man, bringing up from death itself those who have accepted its sentence in the practical meaning of it. Thus we have the principle of resurrection, in which the power of God acts beyond the sentence, so affirming it, and yet showing His grace. And this grace, after this manner, He has shown in Christ, and shown also to a people identified in grace with Him.
This is the God, then, before whom Christ is, and who answers Him, -though He stoop to death to find the answer, because of His identification with the need of others.
5. We are now carried on into the future, in order to see this answer, as it takes effect in the judgment of the nations who have rejected God and His Anointed. The present time we must not expect to find in Old Testament prophecy; and thus in that to which the Lord appeals in the synagogue of Nazareth (Isa 61:1-2), “the acceptable year of the Lord,” which He was there to proclaim, passes on immediately to the “day of judgment of our God,” and so to the restoration of Israel. The psalm here is in the same way connected with Jewish hopes and promises. The suffering Christ becomes, in exaltation, the Conqueror and Judge. As Son of man He comes in the clouds of heaven; as Son of man all judgment is committed to Him. Thus He still maintains His dependence: “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” We need not wonder, then, that at the beginning of this section, He as the Speaker ascribes in a similar way His power to God.
(a) Besides being a fifth section of the psalm, this has again five subsections, the verses still being in triplets, God manifesting Himself still in all, Jehovah being known in the judgment that He executes.
“For it is Thou that lightest my lamp: Jehovah my God enlighteneth my darkness.” So may He say, who, though the Son of God, has been in the darkness of desertion at the cross. We think, naturally, of the tabernacle lamp and its identification of divine glory (the gold) with the almond fruit of resurrection, the sign of coming summer, and we remember how He is presented in the Apocalypse as the “Faithful Witness, and the First-born of the dead, and” -as He is going to be manifested directly -“the Ruler of the kings of the earth.” (Rev 1:5.) Just so where He is coming out as this last, we are permitted first of all to see Him as come out of the darkness, where He has removed all hindrance to earth’s blessing, that we may rejoice in His assumption of power and possession of the inheritance which is now His.
All enemies and obstacles are now to give way before Him: “For by Thee I run through a troop: and by my God I leap over a wall.” And then we have affirmed the character of Him whom the King represents and in whose power He acts: the Mighty One, perfect in His way; the Unchangeable, whose word is tried; and the sure defense of all who take refuge in Him.
(b) And who beside is God? Where else is the Rock of confidence for faith? This is the question that will be pressed for speedy settlement when Christ appears. For now is the time of which it is predicted that “Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His Name one.” (Zec 14:9.) Heathenism is swept away at once; all forms of idolatry are brought to an end together; infidelity will cease from the earth, and agnosticism be no more: even though man’s heart may as really refuse the known, as it once did “the unknown God.”
This Mighty One girds with strength the One whose place is still therefore one of loving service to Him, and makes His way perfect as is His own. His progress is uninterrupted, therefore. “He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet,” -able to surmount all difficulties, -“and setteth Me on my heights,” the mountains of the chosen land. For in that day “the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” (Isa 2:2.) For Jehovah’s throne in Zion shall once again and finally be filled with a human tenant, who shall perfectly represent Him; and “the government shall be upon His shoulder,” whose name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Father of eternity,* the Prince of peace.” (Isa 9:6.)
{* Not “everlasting Father,” which has led to wrong thoughts, but “Father of eternity”: the One who brings all things into the condition in which they will abide forever.}
(c) But the way this is realized is not, as one might think, by the preaching of the gospel of peace. It must be the “effect of righteousness,” and the Davidic phase of the kingdom must precede the Solomonic. We return, therefore, to see Him as the warrior-King: His hands trained for war; Himself covered impenetrably with the shield of God’s salvation; sustained by His strong right hand; and withal, as meek as a Conqueror as in His life of grace of old, He says, “Thy condescension also has made Me great.” His steps are still directed by Him who makes room thus for each one He takes; and His ankles waver not.
(d) Thus we see His enemies now prostrate before Him: He pursues and overtakes them; they fall and rise not; and again it is God who girds Him with, the strength He manifests, and casts the pertinacious foe beneath His feet.
(e) The end is reached in the fifth section. His foes turn their backs and flee in vain: God has given them up into His hand. They cry in despair at last, even to Jehovah now; but there is no reality in it, and they find no Saviour. They are beaten down as dust, and poured out as the mire of the streets.
6. The “rod of iron” of the second psalm is now sketched in three brief but emphatic verses. He is delivered from the strivings of the people -in Samuel, “my” people -Israel, in their old rebellious state, and made head of the nations, a people formerly unknown to Him. These are obedient as soon as they hear of Him; and there is a manifest power which forbids opposition. Strangers in heart bow perforce, though remaining such: and here we see already the cause of that fresh uprising of evil with which the millennial kingdom ends. And this condition of things shows why Satan, bound in the abyss for a thousand years, is permitted to come out of it at the close to bring out the reality. The visible power of God with the blessing attendant upon Messiah’s sway is proved vain to bring man to God. Opposition to Him is no mere fruit of ignorance. In that day there will be none: the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”; and yet of very many it will be said, as it was of those in the day of Christ’s previous sojourn among men: “Now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father.” (Joh 15:24.)
Thus the devil is permitted to do His final work. The awful inveteracy of sin is manifested. He comes out of a thousand years’ restraint; and with his doom at last before his eyes, to work out still unrepentantly the ruin of others and his own. And men on their side turn from the blessedness in which they have shared to listen to his deception. Thus the last verse finds its fulfillment: “sons of the stranger fade away, and are afraid out of their close places.” All is manifest at last, and the work of probation is over: eternity, in fact, has come.
7. The last five verses are an ascription of praise to God, in the same character as at the beginning of the psalm, and summing up in brief the mercies which have been recounted. He is the living and unchanging God, the Rock of faith, the Saviour; the avenging Judge, subduer of the peoples; the God of resurrection, thus lifting up above all enemies. For this cause He is praised among the nations. And the close celebrates the whole as loving-kindness to Jehovah’s King, to David and his seed alike.
Thus, it is plain, the first series of these psalms ends; and in the nineteenth we go back to find a new beginning.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Psalms 18
A song of victory. It opens with ejaculatory expressions of triumph for deliverance. All nature is described as convulsed when the Almighty presses to the rescue. The next division is meditation on the principles involved, the whole closing with a further outburst of triumph and confidence. 2 Samuel 22 is a copy of this ode saying a few variations, and the student is referred to our treatment of it at that place.
Psalms 19
Gods revelation in the world and in the Word. We have a contrast between these two in this psalm. In verses one to six there is the general revelation of the heavens, wordless but extending their sphere over the whole earth, which then specializes to the sun as the chief figure of it all. But in Psa 19:7-14, the law is celebrated, whose function is to warn again sin, and by conformity to which only can our thought and conduct become acceptable to God.
Observe the literary beauty as well as the spiritual teaching in the description of the law six names, six epithets and six effects. The clearer our apprehension of the law, so the psalm teaches, the clearer our view of sin, and the more evident that grace only can cleanse and keep us from it.
Psalms 20-21
These psalms are coupled in The Modern Readers Bible, and called An Antiphonal War Anthem. The first gives the prayers of the king and the people before the battle, and the second the thanksgiving after the victory.
As to the first, we hear the people (Psa 20:1-5), the king (Psa 20:6), and then the people to the end. As to the second, the king is first (Psa 21:1-7), and then the people to the end. While this may be the historical setting of these psalms, yet we are at liberty to apply their utterances in the spiritual scene to the experiences of believers in the Christian Church.
Psalms 21 The Psalm of the Cross. Is this one of the great Messianic psalms? Christ uttered the first verse on the cross (Mat 27:46), and there is reason to think the words of the last were also heard. He hath done it (RV), in the Hebrew, corresponds closely to It is finished (Joh 19:30). If this were so, may we suppose that the whole psalm was the language of the divine sufferer as He bare our sins on the cross?
There are three strophes, or great poetical divisions, each associated with the phrase, Far from me. The first covers verses 1-10, the second verses 11-18, the third verses 19-31. In the first, we have a cry of distress (v. 1-2), an expression of confidence (v. 3-5), a description of the enemies (v. 6-8), and a second expression of confidence (v. 9-10). In the second, we have two descriptions, the surrounding enemies (v. 11-13), and the sufferers experiences (v. 14-18). In the third the whole tone is changed to a note of victory (v. 19-21), a testimony of praise (v. 22-26), and a prophecy of resurrection glory (v. 27-31).
The psalm gives a graphic picture of death by crucifixion with circumstances precisely fulfilled at Calvary. As that form of death penalty was Roman rather than Jewish, we agree with the Scofield Reference Bible that the proof of inspiration is irresistible. At verse 22 the psalm breaks from crucifixion to resurrection (compare Joh 20:17).
Psalms 23
The Shepherd Psalm is such a favorite with all as to make an attempted exposition almost an offence. Did David compose it as a youth tending his fathers sheep? If not, it must have been when occupied in reminiscences of those early days.
Note the possessive, my shepherd, and the future, shall not want. Because the Lord is my Shepherd I am: feeding on the Word (pastures) fellowshipping with the Spirit (waters) being renewed (restoreth) surrendered in will (leadeth) trusting the promises (fear no evil) enjoying security (a table) doing service (runneth over) possessing hope (forever.)
Psalms 24
The Ascension Psalm. The ScofieId Bible speaks of Psalms 22, 23, 24, as a trilogy. In the first, the good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep (Joh 10:11), in the second, the great Shepherd brought again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant, tenderly cares for His sheep (Heb 13:20), and in the last, the chief Shepherd appears as king of glory to own and reward the sheep (1Pe 5:4).
From this point of view the order is:
1. the declaration of title, The earth is the Lords (Psa 24:1-2) 2. the challenge (Psa 24:3-6), a question of worthiness, and no one is worthy but the Lamb (compare Dan 7:13-14; Rev 5:3-10) 3. the king takes the throne (Psa 24:7-10), (compare Mat 25:31)
QUESTIONS
1. Where have we met earlier with the contents of Psalms 18?
2. What theme would you assign to Psalms 19?
3. Give the names, epithets and effects of the law.
4. What is the historical setting of Psalms 20, 21?
5. How does Joh 19:30 suggest the last verse of Psalms 22?
6. Of what is this psalm a picture?
7. What proof of inspiration does it contain?
8. By what name has Psalms 24 been called?
9. How may the last three psalms be classified?
10. Amplify this last idea.
11. From this point of view, what is the order of Psalms 24?
12. What may have been the historical origin of the psalm last named?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Psa 18:1-3. I will love thee Hebrew, , erchamecha, I will love thee most affectionately, and with my whole soul. I can make thee no better return for all thy favours than my love, which I pray thee to accept. By loving the Lord, however, here and elsewhere, we are not only to understand giving him the inward affection of the soul, but also all the proper outward expressions and testimonies of it, in praising, glorifying, and serving him. O Lord, my strength From whom alone I have received all my strength, and success, and my establishment in the peaceable possession of the kingdom, and in whom alone I trust, as it follows. The Lord is my rock and my fortress To which I flee for refuge, as the Israelites did to their rocks and strong holds; and as David himself did when driven into banishment by Saul, and forced to conceal himself in rocks and caverns, and to retreat for safety to steep hills and precipices rendered by nature almost inaccessible. See Jdg 6:2; 1Sa 13:6; 1Sa 23:19; 1Sa 23:25; 1Sa 24:2. My buckler Or, shield, by whom I have been protected, amidst the dangers of those perilous wars in which I have been engaged, as the soldier is by the shield in his hand. The horn of my salvation By which I have both defended myself and subdued my enemies: a metaphor taken from the horns of animals, which are their ornament and strength; by which they both protect themselves, and assault those who oppose or injure them. The horn is frequently put for strength and power, by the sacred writers, as Psa 92:10; Amo 6:13, and elsewhere, as also for riches and dignity. The reader will observe that this verse contains a continued chain of metaphors, and is a sublime paraphrase on the first commandment, declaring that Jehovah, the God of Israel, alone, was the foundation of his confidence, and the author of his security and happiness: by whom he had been supported under his troubles, and delivered out of them; whose protection had secured him, and whose power had broken and scattered his enemies; by whose mercy and truth he was now set up on high above them all. I will call Or, I did call, and was saved. For the future tense is commonly used for that which is past. And this seems best to agree with the whole context.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
David prays here in his own person, this being a psalm of memorial, when the Lord had delivered him out of the hands of Saul and of all his enemies. But as he ever worshipped with the promise at his consecration and with the Messiah in his view, he rises to the sublime of song, and joins his sorrows and his joys to those of Christ. The title is taken from 2Sa 22:1.
Psa 18:1-2. I will love thee, oh Lord, possessed of all perfections, moral and divine, the infinite, unchangeable Jehovah. Thou art my rock, for thy love and thy truth are firm. Thou hast inspired me with confidence and courage, and covered my head in the day of battle, Thou art my horn of elevation, of strength and glory. Job 15:15. My high tower, of defence and safety.
Psa 18:4-5. The sorrows of death compassed me about, and the snares of death were spread to take my feet. Yea, suddenly was my sun turned to darkness, when in a giddy moment I had said, my mountain is strong: I shall never be moved. Saul sought my life, and his fawning courtiers thirsted for my blood, as dogs in pursuit of game. The sons of Belial loaded me with execrations. Oh what horrors, what darkness, what anguish of hell suddenly took hold upon me. David now drank of the Saviours cup, in the hour and power of darkness, when his soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.
Psa 18:6. In my distress, I called upon the Lord; yea, out of the depths I cried, what profit is there in my blood? What will become of thy promises at my consecration? I wept bitterly for one whole night, looking towards his holy habitation. Psa 30:5. Then the Lord heard me out of his holy temple. He shed sweet influences abroad in my heart, pledges of future elevation, accompanied with every cheering token of his love.
Psa 18:7. Then the earth shook and trembled. The God who arose for the salvation of his people in Egypt, arose for the salvation of his anointed. He shook my foes with terror, as when Sinai trembled, and the earth was afraid. The Highest gave his voice in thunders which terrified the earth.
Psa 18:10. He rode upon a cherub, and did flyupon the wings of the wind, when his glory shone out on mount Sinai with lustre insupportable to eyes of flesh, even to mount Seir. Deu 33:2; Deu 33:26. Jdg 5:4. Ezekiel 1. 4. 10.
Psa 18:11. He made darkness his secret place, Though he dwells in light, yet he veiled himself to mortal eyes in the thickest clouds of heaven, while his lightnings ignited the coals on the altar, and shook the earth with peals of thunder. So when the true David was persecuted, the sun was enshrouded, the rocks were rent, and the dead arose. Exo 19:18. Jos 10:10.
Psa 18:12. Hailstones and coals of fire; ignited iron ores, vulgarly called thunderbolts. In addition to the note on Jos 10:11, an intelligent farmer was heard to say that during a thunder storm in Hampshire, small stones like iron ores had dropped from the clouds on the footpath in an open field. They were no doubt ignited when they fell.
Psa 18:14. He sent out his arrows; his flashes of lightning, as is mostly explained; to scatter his foes, and drown the Egyptians, when he laid open the channels of the Red sea. This was the age of marvels, to revive a religion almost extinguished by oppression.
Psa 18:16. He sent from above; by his Angel of the covenant, or his Word; and drew me out of many waters, troubles, dangers and death, and delivered me from Saul, my strong enemy.
Psa 18:20; Psa 18:24. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; that is, according to the equity of my cause, having neither sought the crown, nor in any thing been disloyal to the king. And though a sinful man, I have been preserved from idolatry, and have adhered to the law of the Lord.
Psa 18:29. By my God have I leaped over a wall, in storming the cities of hostile nations; and no weapon has been suffered to wound me. To him I owe my life a thousand times; to him be all the praise.
Psa 18:40. Thou hast given me the necks of mine enemies. Of Ammon, of Moab, and all the nine nations who conspired against him, as in Psalms 83., when they heard that he was made king. He threw his yoke successively on all their necks.
REFLECTIONS.
Many, when their troubles are over, forget the God that brought them through. It is otherwise with the truly regenerate. It is a strong censure which the sacred text has left on Hezekiah, when the Lord had delivered him from the countless armies of Assyria, and given him all their arms and plundered gold, that he rendered not again to the Lord. Alas, alas, the vows and promises of multitudes made in the time of trouble, lie in ruins like desecrated temples, profaned and exposed to the desolating hand of future years.
But David, as soon as his conflicts were over, hasted to the sanctuary to publish the high praises of his God in all the ardour of sacred song. His grateful heart was more fragrant than incense, and the oblation of his vows more acceptable than burnt-offerings. He loved and adored the Lord under every name which hallows his being, and under every figure which inspires confidence: he was his rock and refuge, his shield and strong tower. He regarded him for the future as he had found him in the past; a God who would be his shelter in every storm, and deliver him, because he delighted in him. We have but to learn of this illustrious prince and prophet, called to serve his God in stormy life, to keep clean hands, and trust in him, a Saviour in all succeeding years.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
XVIII. See p. 367 for the reasons which make it impossible to ascribe this Ps. to David. Even scholars who hold traditional views admit that he cannot have written it as it stands, and that additional matter has been interpolated by later scribes. The language, which is Aramaic in its colouring, confirms the view that it is late, and so does the theophany in Psa 18:3-20 when compared with Deuteronomy 32. Possibly a later writer composed it and put it by a very permissible license in Davids mouth. If so, he paints David not as he was, but as a later age conceived him to be, a warrior on the one hand, a strict observer of the Law upon the other. The portrait would then agree with that given in Chronicles. It is, however, quite as likely that the Ps. is intended to glorify the success of a hero in the Maccabean age, the first time known in which legal piety was united with leadership in battles. Little is to be said for the view that the writer speaks in the name of the Jewish nation.
We have another recension in 2 Samuel 22. There are numerous divergences which testify to the uncertain state of the text here and by inference elsewhere. The Ps. and the last words of David that follow it are a late insertion in 2 S. They destroy the connexion between 2Sa 21:22; 2Sa 23:8.
Psa 18:1-6. Introductory. 1 is absent in 2 S. which, on the other hand, adds at the end of Psa 18:2, And my refuge, my saviour that savest me from violence.
Psa 18:2. the horn of my salvation: i.e. the weapon which secures victory. The metaphor is taken from a bulls horn.
Psa 18:5. Read with 2 S., breakers of death for snares of death.
Psa 18:6. the heavenly palace is meant.
Psa 18:7-19. Yahweh appears.
Psa 18:10. For the cherubim, who bore the throne of Yahweh from place to place, see Ezekiel 1. The word cherub and the idea it represents were probably borrowed from the Babylonian winged bulls which were the protecting genii of the house (Gen 3:24*, Isa 6:2*). In Jdg 5:4 f. Yahweh strides northwards to help His people.
Psa 18:12. Translate without radiance before him thick clouds passed.
Psa 18:20-30. Yahweh has rewarded the Psalmist for his strict observance of the Law, and this is the general principle of His government.
Psa 18:26 b. Cf. 1Ki 22:20, 2Sa 24:1, and contrast Laotse, the Chinese sage, in Grills translation. I deal well with him who deals well with me: I deal well likewise with him who is not good. To repay injury with kindness is indeed a principle with Laotse. He was born in 604 B.C.
Psa 18:28. In 2 S. Thou art my lamp, O Yahweh.
Psa 18:29. Leap over a wall, i.e. of a besieged city.
Psa 18:31-45. The Psalmist recurs to a success in battle given by Yahweh.
Psa 18:35. Thy gentleness hath made me great. Unparallelled in OT. 2 S. points differently, thy answer, i.e. to my prayer. The LXX also point differently, thy discipline has made me great.
Psa 18:41. The Psalmists foes call on Yahweh and must therefore have been at least in part Jews or Samaritans.
Psa 18:46-50. Ascription of praise.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
PSALM 18
Christ identifying Himself with the sufferings of Israel, and the ground of all God’s dealings with Israel, whether in past deliverances from Egypt or in the last great deliverance that will introduce the millennial reign of Christ.
In this psalm the circumstances in David’s life – his sufferings and his victories – are used to present Christ and the deliverances wrought for Israel through His sufferings and victories.
(vv. 1-3) The psalm opens by presenting Christ in the circumstances of the godly remnant in Israel. He is seen as the One who is devoted to God – I will love thee, O Lord; dependent upon God – In whom I will trust; and calling upon the Lord when surrounded with enemies – I will call upon the Lord.
(vv. 4-6) The trial deepens for, in verses 4 to 6, Christ is seen compassed by the sorrows of death, surrounded by the floods of the ungodly, with the grave and the snares of death before Him. From the midst of His distress He calls upon God and is heard. This introduces the great theme of the psalm. All deliverance for Israel turns upon Christ having entered into their sorrows, and in this place calling upon the Lord. Deliverance for others depends upon a perfect One having taken up their cause, and calling upon God. His deliverance, and the deliverance of those identified with Him, is in answer to His call. The psalm does not present the atoning sufferings of Christ, but His sufferings from the hands of men even to death. These are sufferings that the people of God have to meet, and into these sufferings Christ enters in perfection and voices in perfection the cry of God’s people and is heard.
It is true that the atoning sufferings of Christ are absolutely necessary for the blessing of men. Nevertheless, in the ways of God in government on earth, He delivers and blesses with earthly deliverance on the ground of His delight in the godly. We see this principle illustrated in the history of Sodom. Abraham asks God to spare Sodom from temporal destruction if ten righteous men could be found in the city; and God was prepared to do so.
(vv. 7-15) In these verses we are taken back to the deliverance that God wrought at the Red Sea to learn the first great result of Christ having entered into the sufferings of God’s people. The judgment upon Pharaoh and his host is described with the use of magnificent figures drawn from the convulsions of nature – earthquakes, fire, wind, thick clouds, hail and lightning.
(vv. 16-19) Into these sorrows Christ had been. Hence the spirit of God passes from Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea to Christ passing through death when surrounded by the floods of ungodly men. God sent from above, and Christ can say, he took me; he drew me out of many waters; he delivered me from my strong enemy; and the Lord was my stay.
(vv. 20-24) These verses present the ground on which Christ is heard in the day of His distress, and delivered from all His enemies. It is in answer to His perfect obedience to the law. Thus there passes before us the path of perfect obedience that He trod upon earth. The answer will be seen in His exaltation and triumph in His millennial reign. Thus Christ can say, The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. Christ alone answered in an absolute way to the righteous requirements of God. He only could say absolutely, I have kept the ways of the Lord; I did not put away his statutes from me; I was also upright before him.
(vv. 25-26) The principles of God’s earthly government are clearly set forth in verses 25 and 26. In the government of God we reap what we sow. We find mercy if we show mercy; and will be righteously rewarded if we act righteously. This shows that the blessings of the psalm are not the answer to atonement, but the reward of piety.
(vv. 27-28) As the result of Christ’s identification with His suffering people there will be, in the righteous government of God, deliverance for the afflicted people, and judgment for the proud. Moreover, the godly will be enlightened, and enabled to overcome every obstacle.
I kept myself from mine iniquity, verse 23, presents a difficulty in applying this part of the psalm personally to Christ. It is evident that the Lord could not speak of mine iniquity as referring to indwelling sin. It has been suggested that the Lord could use such language in reference to His special temptations that lay before Him in the path He had to tread (JND). Others have suggested different translations such as, from perverseness being mine (FWG), or have kept myself from iniquity (Perowne).
(vv. 30-42) In these verses we pass on to the future to see Christ in the exercise of victorious power subduing all His enemies. The power by which He overcomes every enemy is ascribed to God (vv. 30-36). In the might of His power Christ pursues His enemies until all are subdued under His feet, and driven away like the dust before the wind (vv. 37-42).
(vv. 43-45) Christ delivered from all His enemies is seen in the glorious reign that follows upon His victories, He is set over all, and all are brought into subjection to Him.
(vv. 46-50) Christ using His victories, His exaltation, and the subjection of all His enemies for the exaltation and praise of God.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
Psalms 18
As the title indicates, David wrote this psalm after he had subdued his political enemies and had established the kingdom of Israel firmly under his control. In this poem, David expressed his delight in the Lord and thanked Him for giving him the victories he enjoyed. This royal thanksgiving psalm also appears in 2 Samuel 22. The slight variations may be due to changes that Israel’s leaders made, under divine inspiration, when they adapted this poem for use in Israel’s public worship. Other individual psalms of thanksgiving are 30-32, 40, 66, 92, 116, 118, and 120.
"The two components essential to the [individual thanksgiving] genre are: (1) the psalmist’s report about his crisis, and (2) the statement or declaration that the crisis has passed and his deliverance is an accomplished fact. The latter element is that which distinguishes these psalms from the lament." [Note: Bullock, p. 152.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. God’s character 18:1-3
David began his praise by verbalizing his love for God for being so good to him. He proceeded to describe how much the Lord meant to him by using many metaphors. Yahweh was the source of his strength, stability, safety, and salvation. He was the one in whom David sought refuge, his defense, his power, and his protection. Because God had proved to be such a reliable Savior, the psalmist regarded Him worthy of his praise.
"One of the great tragedies of the human spirit is to become a prisoner of ingratitude, for ingratitude shuts the human spirit up in a world lightened only by the self, which is no light at all." [Note: Ibid., p. 162.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 18:1-50
THE description of the theophany (Psa 18:7-19) and that of the psalmists God-won victories (Psa 18:32-46) appear to refer to the same facts, transfigured in the former case by devout imagination and presented in the latter in their actual form. These two portions make the two central masses round which the psalm is built up. They are connected by a transitional section, of which the main theme is the power of character to determine Gods aspect to a man as exemplified in the singers experience; and they are preceded, and followed by an introduction and a conclusion, throbbing with gratitude and love to Jehovah, the Deliverer.
The Davidic authorship of this psalm has been admitted even by critics who are slow to recognise it. Cheyne asks, as if sure of a negative answer, “What is there in it that suggests the history of David?” (“Orig. of Psalter,” p. 205). Baethgen, who “suspects” that a Davidic psalm has been “worked over” for use in public worship, may answer the question: “The following points speak for the Davidic authorship. The poet is a military commander and king, who wages successful wars, and subdues peoples whom he hitherto did not know. There is no Israelite king to whom the expressions in question in the psalm apply so closely as is the case with David.” To these points may be added the allusions to earlier trials and perils, and the distinct correspondence, in a certain warmth and inwardness of personal relation to Jehovah, with the other psalms attributed to David, as well as the pregnant use of the word to flee to a refuge, applied to the souls flight to God, which we find here (Psa 18:2) and in the psalms ascribed to him. If the clear notes of the psalm be the voice of personal experience, there is but one author possible-namely, David-and the glow and intensity of the whole make the personification theory singularly inadequate. It is much easier to believe that David used the word “temple” or “palace” for Jehovahs heavenly dwelling, than that the “I” of the psalm, with his clinging sense of possession in Jehovah, his vivid remembrance of sorrows, his protestations of integrity, his wonder at his own victories, and his triumphant praise, is not a man, but a frosty personification of the nation.
The preluding invocation in Psa 18:1-3 at once touches the highwater mark of Old Testament devotion, and is conspicuous among its noblest utterances.
Nowhere else in Scripture is the form of the word employed which is here used for “love.” It has special depth and tenderness. How far into the centre this man had penetrated, who could thus isolate and unite Jehovah and himself, and could feel that they two were alone and knit together by love! The true estimate of Jehovahs ways with a man will always lead to that resolve to love, based on the consciousness of Gods love to him. Happy they who learn that lesson by retrospect; happier still if they gather it from their sorrows while these press! Love delights in addressing the beloved and heaping tender names on its object, each made more tender and blessed by that appropriating “my.” It seems more accordant with the fervent tone of the psalm to regard the reiterated designations in Psa 18:2 as vocatives, than to take “Jehovah” and “God” as subjects and the other names as predicates. Rather the whole is one long, loving accumulation of dear names, a series of invocations, in which the restful heart murmurs to itself how rich it is and is never wearied of saying, “my delight and defence.” As in Psa 17:1-15, the name of Jehovah occurs twice, and that of God once. Each of these is expanded, as it were, by the following epithets, and the expansion becomes more extended as it advances, beginning with one member in Psa 18:1, having three in Psa 18:2 a-and four in Psa 18:2 b. Leaving out the Divine names proper, there are seven in Psa 18:2, separated into two groups by the name of God. It may be observed there is a general correspondence between the two sets, each beginning with “rock” (though the word is different in the two clauses), each having the metaphor of a fortress, and “shield and horn of salvation,” roughly answering to “Deliverer.” The first word for rock is more properly crag or cliff, thus suggesting inaccessibility, and the second a rock mass, thus giving the notion of firmness or solidity. The shade of difference need not be pressed, but the general idea is that of safety, or by elevation above the enemy and by reason of the unchangeable strength of Jehovah. In that lofty eyrie, a man may look down on all the armies of earth, idly active on the plain. That great Rock towers unchangeable above fleeting things. The river at its base runs past, the woods nestling at its feet bud and shed their leaves, but it stands the same. David had many a time found shelter among the hills and caves of Judah and the South land, and it may not be fancy that sees reminiscences of these experiences in his song. The beautiful figure for trust embodied in the word in Psa 18:2 b belongs to the metaphor of the rock: It is found with singular appropriateness in Psa 57:1-11, which the title ascribes to David “in the cave,” the sides of which bent above him and sheltered him, like a great pair of wings, and possibly suggested the image, “In the shadow of Thy wings will I take refuge.” The difference between “fortress” and “high tower” is slight, but the former gives more prominence to the idea of strength, and the latter to that of elevation, both concurring in the same thought as was expressed by “rock,” but with the additional suggestion of Jehovah as the home of the soul. Safety, then, comes through communion. Abiding in God is seclusion from danger. “Deliverer” stands last in the first set, saying in plain words what the preceding had put in figures. “My shield and the horn of my salvation” come in the centre of the second set, in obedience to the law of variety in reiteration which the poets artistic instincts impose. They shift the figure to that of a warrior in actual conflict. The others picture a fugitive from enemies, these a fighter. The shield is a defensive weapon; horns are offensive ones, and the combination suggests that in conflict we are safe by the interposition of Gods covering power, and are armed by the same power for striking at the foe. That power ensures salvation whether in the narrower or wider sense. Thus Jehovah is all the armour and all the refuge of His servant. To trust Him is to have His protection cast around and His power infused for conflict and victory. The end of all lifes experience is to reveal Him in these characters, and they have rightly learned its lessons whose song of retrospect begins with “I will love Thee, Jehovah,” and pours out at His feet all happy names expressive of His sufficiency and of the singers rest in possessing Him. Psa 18:3 is not a resolution for the future-“I will call; so shall I be saved”-but the summing up of experience in a great truth: “I call, and I am saved.” It unfolds the meaning of the previous names of God, and strikes the keynote for the magnificent sequel.
The superb idealisation of past deliverances under the figure of a theophany is prepared for by a retrospect of dangers, which still palpitates with the memory of former fears. “A sorrows crown of sorrow is remembering happier things,” and a joys crown of joy is remembering past perils. No better description of Davids early life could have been given than that contained in the two vivid figures of Psa 18:4-5. If we adopt the more congruous reading of the other recension of the psalm in 2Sa 22:1-51, we have in both members of Psa 18:4 a parallel metaphor. Instead of “sorrows” or “cords” (both of which renderings are possible for the text of the psalm here), it reads “breakers,” corresponding with “floods” in the second clause. “Destruction” is better than ungodly men as the rendering of the unusual word “Belial.” Thus the psalmist pictures himself as standing on a diminishing bit of solid ground, round which a rising flood runs strong, breaking on its crumbling narrowness. Islanded thus, he is all but lost. With swift transition he casts the picture of his distress into another metaphor. Now he is a hunted creature, surrounded and confronted by cords and snares. Sheol and Death have marked him for their prey, and are drawing their nets round him. What is left for him? One thing only. He has a voice, and he has a God. In his despair one piercing cry breaks from him; and, wonder of wonders, that thin shoot of prayer rises right into the heavenly palace temple and the ears of God. The repetition of “I called upon the Lord” connects this with Psa 18:3 as the experience on which the generalisation there is based. His extremity of peril had not paralysed the psalmists grasp of God as still “my God,” and his confidence is vindicated. There is an eloquent contrast between the insignificance of the cause and the stupendous grandeur of the effect: one poor mans shrill cry and a shaking earth and all the dread pomp attending an interposing God. A cupful of water poured into a hydraulic ram sets in motion power that lifts tons; the prayer of faith brings the dread magnificence of Jehovah into the field. The reading of 2 Samuel is preferable in the last clause of Psa 18:6, omitting the superfluous “before Him.”
The phenomena of a thunderstorm are the substratum of the grand description of Jehovahs delivering self-manifestation. The garb is lofty poetry; but a definite fact lies beneath, namely some deliverance in which the psalmist saw Jehovahs coming in storm and lightning flash to destroy, and therefore to save. Faith sees more truly because more deeply than sense. What would have appeared to an ordinary looker on as merely a remarkable escape was to its subject the manifestation of a present God. Which eye sees the “things that are,”-that which is cognisant only of a concatenation of events, or that which discerns a Person directing these? The cry of this hunted man has for first effect the kindling of the Divine “wrath,” which is represented as flaming into action in the tremendous imagery of Psa 18:7-8. The description of the storm in which God comes to help the suppliant does not begin with these verses, as is commonly understood. The Divine power is not in motion yet, but is, as it were, gathering itself up for action. The complaining prayer is boldly treated as bringing to Gods knowledge His servants straits, and the knowledge as moving Him to wrath towards the enemies of one who takes shelter beneath His wings. “What have I here that my”-servant is thus bestead? saith the Lord. The poet can venture to paint a picture with the pen, which the painter dare not attempt with the pencil. The anger of Jehovah is described in words of singular daring, as rising like smoke from His nostrils and pouring in fire from His lips, from which blazing brands issue. No wonder that the earth reels even to the roots of the mountains, as unable to endure that wrath! The frank anthropomorphism of the picture, of which the features are taken from the hard breathing of an angry man or animal, {compare Jobs crocodile in Job 41:10-13} and the underlying conception are equally offensive to many; but as for the former, the more “gross” the humanising of the picture, the less likely is it to be mistaken for prose fact, and the more easy to apprehend as symbol: and as for the latter, the New Testament endorses the conception of the “wrath of God,” and bids us take heed lest, if we cast it away, we maim his love. This same psalm hymns Jehovahs “gentleness”; and the more deeply His love is apprehended, the more surely will His wrath be discerned as its necessary accompaniment. The dark orb and its radiant sister move round a common centre.
Thus kindled, Gods wrath flashes into action, as is wonderfully painted in that great storm piece in Psa 18:9-15. The stages of a violent thunder tempest are painted with unsurpassable force and brevity.
First we see the low clouds: far nearer the trembling earth than the hidden blue was, and seeming to press down with leaden weight, their boding blackness is above us; but
“Whose foot shall we see emerge,
Whose from the straining topmost dark?”
Their low gathering is followed by the sudden rush of wind, which breaks the awful calm. In its “sound,” the psalmist hears the winnowing of mighty wings: those of the cherub on whom, as a living chariot, Jehovah sits throned. This is called “mythology.” Is it not rather a poetic personification of elemental powers, which gives emphasis to their being Gods instruments? The cherubim are in Scripture represented in varying forms and with different attributes. In Ezekiel they assume a composite form due apparently to Babylonian influences; but here there is no trace of that, and the absence of such strongly supports a pre-exilic date.
Blacker grows the gloom, in which awed hearts are conscious of a present Deity shrouded behind the livid folds of the thunderclouds, as in a tent. Down rushes the rain; the darkness is “a darkness of waters,” and also “thick clouds of the skies,” or “cloud masses,” a mingled chaos of rain and cloud. Then lightning tears a way through the blackness, and the language becomes abrupt, like the flash. In Psa 18:12-13 the fury of the storm rages. Blinding brightness and deafening thunder-claps gleam and rattle through the broken words. Probably Psa 18:12 should be rendered, “From the brightness before Him there came through His clouds hail and brands of fire.” Hidden in the cloudy tent is the light of Jehovahs presence, sparkles from which, flung forth by Him, pierce the solid gloom; and men call them lightnings. Then thunder rolls, the voice of the Most High. The repetition in Psa 18:13 of “hail and brands of fire” gives much abrupt force and one is unwilling to part with it. The reason for omitting it from the text is the want of grammatical connection, but that is rather a reason for retaining it, as the isolated clause breaks in on the continuity of the sentence, just as the flash shoots suddenly out of the cloud. These lightnings are Gods arrows; and, as they are showered down in flights, the psalmists enemies, unnamed since Psa 18:3, scatter in panic. The ideal character of the whole representation is plain from the last element in it-the description in Psa 18:15 of laying bare the seas depths, as the waters were parted at the Exodus. That voice and the fierce blast from these fire-breathing nostrils have dried the streams, and the oozy bed is seen. Gods “rebuke” has power to produce physical changes. The earthquake at the beginning and the empty ocean bed at the end are both somewhat outside the picture of the storm, and complete the representation of all nature as moved by the theophany.
Then comes the purpose of all the dread magnificence, strangely small except to the psalmist. Heaven and earth have been shaken, and lightnings set leaping through the sky, for nothing greater than to drag one half-drowned man from the floods. But the result of the theophany is small only in the same fashion as its cause was small. This same poor man cried, and the cry set Jehovahs activity in motion. The deliverance of a single soul may seem a small thing, but if the single soul has prayed it is no longer small, for Gods good name is involved. A nation is disgraced if its meanest subject is left to die in the hands of foreign enemies, and blood and treasure are not wasted if poured out lavishly for his rescue. God cannot let a suppliant who has taken shelter in His tent be dragged thence. Therefore there is no disproportion between the theophany and the individual deliverance which is its sole result.
The psalmist lays aside the figure in Psa 18:17-18, and comes to the bare fact of his deliverance from enemies, and perhaps from one especially, formidable (“my enemy,” Psa 18:17). The prose of the whole would have been that he was in great danger and without means of averting it, but had a hair-breadth escape. But the outside of a fact is not all of it; and in this mystical life of ours poetry gets nearer the heart of things than does prose, and religion nearer than either. It is no miracle, in the narrow meaning of that word, which the psalmist sings; but his eye has seen the unseen force which moves all visible events. We may see the same apocalypse of a present Jehovah, if our eyes are purged, and our hearts pure. It is always true that the cry of a trustful soul pierces heaven and moves God; it is always true that He comes to His servant sinking and crying, “Lord, save me; I perish.” The scene on the Galilean lake when Christs strong grasp held Peter up, because his fear struck out a spark of faith, though his faith was darkened with fear, is ever being repeated.
The note slightly touched at the close of the description of the deliverance dominates the second part of the psalm (Psa 18:20-31), of which the main theme is the correspondence of Gods dealings with character, as illustrated in the singers experience, and thence generalised into a law of the Divine administration. It begins with startling protestations of innocence. These are rounded into a whole by the repetition, at the beginning and end, of the same statement that God dealt with the psalmist according to his righteousness and clean-handedness. If the author is David, this voice of a good conscience must have been uttered before his great fall, after which he could, indeed, sing of forgiveness and restoring grace, but never again of integrity. Unlike as the tone of these verses is to that deeper consciousness of sin which is not the least of Christs gifts, the truth which they embody is as much a part of the Christian as of the earlier revelation. True, penitence must now mingle with conscious rectitude more abundantly than it does in this psalm; but it is still and forever true that God deals with His servants according to their righteousness. Cherished sin separates from Him, and forces His love to leave cries for help many times unanswered, in order that, filled with the fruit of their doings, His people may have a wholesome fear of again straying from the narrow way. Unless a Christian can say, “I keep myself from mine iniquity,” he has no right to look for the sunshine of Gods face to gladden his eyes, nor for the strength of Gods hand to pluck his feet from the net. In noble and daring words, the psalmist proclaims as a law of Gods dealings his own experience generalised (Psa 18:25-27). It is a bold reversal of the ordinary point of view to regard man as taking the initiative and God as following his lead. And yet is not life full of solemn facts confirmatory of the truth that God is to a man what the man is to God? That is so both subjectively and objectively. Subjectively, our conceptions of God vary with our moral nature, and objectively the dealings of God are moulded according to that nature. There is such a thing as colour blindness in regard to the Divine character, whereby some men cannot see the green of faithful love or the red of wrath, but each beholds that in God which his vision fits him to see; and the many-sided dealings of God are different in their incidence upon different characters, so that the same heat melts wax and hardens clay; and further the actual dealings are accurately adapted to the state of their objects, so that each gets what he needs most: the loving heart, sweet love tokens from the Divine Lover; the perverse, thwartings which come from a God “contrary” to them who are contrary to Him. “The history of the world is the judgment of the world.” But the first of the designations of character in Psa 18:25 hints that before mans initiative had been Gods: for “merciful” is the pregnant word occurring so often in the Psalter, and so impossible to translate by any one word. It means, as we have already had occasion to point out, one who is the subject of the Divine lovingkindness, and who therefore loves God in return. Here it seems rather to be taken in the sense of loving than of beloved. He who exercises this lovingkindness, whether towards God or man, shall find in God One who exercises it to him. But the word itself regards mans lovingkindness towards God as being the echo of Gods, and so the very first step in determining the mutual relations is Gods, and but for it there would never have been that in man which God could answer by showing Himself as loving. The contrasted dealings and characters are summed up in the familiar antithesis of Psa 18:27. The “afflicted” or humble are the type of God-pleasing character, since humility, such as befits dependent creatures, is the mother of all goodness, and “high looks” the master sin, and the whole drift of Providence is to lift the lowly and abase the proud.
The psalmists swift thought vibrates throughout this part of the song between his own experience and the general truths exemplified in it. He is too full of his own deliverance to be long silent about it, and, on the other hand, is continually reminded by it of the wide sweep of the beneficent laws which have been so fruitful of good to him. The most precious result of individual mercy is the vision obtained through it of the universal Lover of souls. “My God” will be widened into “our God,” and “our God” will rest upon “my God,” if either is spoken from the hearts depths. So in Psa 18:27-29 the personal element comes again to the front. The individualising name “My God” occurs in each verse, and the deliverance underlying the theophany is described in terms which prepare for the fuller celebration of victory in the last part of the psalm. God lights the psalmists lamp, by which is meant not the continuance of his family (as the expression elsewhere means), but the preservation of his own life, with the added idea, especially in Psa 18:28 b, of prosperity. Psa 18:29 tells how the lamp was kept alight, namely by the singers victory in actual battle, in which his swift rush had overtaken the enemy, and his agile limbs had scaled their walls. The parallelism of the clauses is made more complete by the emendation adopted by Lagarde, Cheyne, Baethgert, etc., who read Psa 18:29 a, -” I [can] break down a fence,” but this is unnecessary. The same combination of running and climbing occurs in Joe 2:7, and the two clauses of Psa 18:33 seem to repeat those of Psa 18:29. The swift, agile warrior, then, traces these physical powers to God, as he does more at large in later verses.
Once more, the song passes, in Psa 18:30, to the wider truths taught by the personal deliverance. “Our God” takes the place of “my God”; and “all who take refuge in Him” are discerned as gathering, a shadowy crowd, round the solitary psalmist, and as sharing in his blessings. The large truths of these verses are the precious fruit of distress and deliverance. Both have cleared the singers eyes to see, and tuned his lips to sing, a God whose doings are without a flaw whose word is like pure gold without alloy or falsehood, whose ample protection shields all who flee to its shelter, who alone is God, the fountain of strength, who stands firm forever, the inexpugnable defence and dwelling place of men. This burst of pure adoration echoes the tones of the glorious beginning of the psalm. Happy they who, as the result of lifes experience, solve “the riddle of this painful earth,” with these firm and jubilant convictions as the very foundation of their being.
The remainder of the psalm (Psa 18:32-50) describes the victorious campaign of the psalmist and the establishment of his kingdom. There is difficulty in determining the tenses of the verbs in some verses, and interpreters vary between pasts and futures. The inclination of the greater number of recent commentators is to carry the historical retrospect uninterruptedly through the whole context, which, as Hupfeld acknowledges, “allerdings das bequemste ist,” and those who suppose occasional futures interspersed (as the R.V. and Hupfeld) differ in the places of their introduction. “Everything here is retrospective,” says Delitzsch, and certainly that view is simplest: and gives unity to the whole. The name of God is never mentioned in the entire section, except as vainly invoked by the flying foe. Not till the closing doxologies does it appear again, with the frequency which marks the middle part of the psalm. A similar sparse use of it characterises the description of the theophany. In both cases there is a peculiar force given by the stream of verbs without expressed nominatives. The hurrying clauses here vividly reproduce the haste of battle, and each falls like the blow of a battle mace wielded by a strong arm. The equipment of the king for the fight (Psa 18:32-36). the fierce assault, flight of the foe and their utter annihilation (Psa 18:37-42), the extension by conquest of the singers kingdom (Psa 18:43-44), successively pass before us as we listen to the panting words with the heat of battle in them; and all rises at last into exuberant praise, which re-echoes some strains of the introductory burst of thanksgiving.
Many mythologies have told how the gods arm their champions, but the psalmist reaches a loftier height than these. He ventures to think of God as doing the humble office of bracing on his girdle, but the girdle is itself strength. God, whose own “way is perfect” (Psa 18:30) makes His servants “way” in some measure like His own; and though, no doubt, the figure must be interpreted in a manner congruous with its context, as chiefly implying “perfection” in regard to the purpose in hand-namely, warfare – we need not miss the deeper truth that Gods soldiers are fitted for conflict by their “ways” being conformed to Gods. This mans “strength was as the strength of ten, because his heart was pure.” Strength and swiftness are the two characteristics of antique heroes, and Gods gift bestowed both on the psalmist. Light of foot as a deer and able to climb to the robber forts perched on crags, as a chamois would, his hands deft, and his muscular arms strong to bend the bow which others could not use, he is the ideal of a warrior of old; and all these natural powers he again ascribes to Gods gift. A goddess gave Achilles his wondrous shield, but what was it to that which God binds upon this warriors arm? As his girdle was strength, and not merely a means of strength, his shield is salvation, and not merely a means of safety. The fact that God purposes to save and does act for saving is the defence against all dangers and enemies. It is the same deep truth as the prophet expresses by making “salvation” the walls and bulwarks of the strong city where the righteous nation dwells in peace. God does not thus arm His servant and then send him out alone to fight as he can, but “Thy right hand holds me up.” What assailant can beat him down, if that hand is under his armpit to support him? The beautiful rendering of the A.V., “Thy gentleness,” scarcely conveys the meaning, and weakens the antithesis with the psalmists “greatness,” which is brought out by translating “Thy lowliness,” or even more boldly “Thy humility.” There is that in God which answers to the peculiarly human virtue of lowliness; and unless there were, man would remain small and unclothed with God-given strength. The devout soul thrills with wonder at Gods stooping love, which it discerns to be the foundation of all His gifts and therefore of its blessedness. This singer saw deep into the heart of God, and anticipated the great word of the one Revealer, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” But Gods care for him does not merely fit him for the fight: it also orders circumstances so as to give him a free course. Having made his “feet like hinds feet,” God then prepares paths that he should walk in them. The work is only half done when the man is endowed for service or conflict; a field for his powers must be forthcoming, and God will take care that no strength given by Him lies idle for want of a wrestling ground. Sooner or later feet find the road.
Then follow six verses (Psa 18:37-42) full of the stir and tumult of battle. There is no necessity for the change to futures in the verbs of Psa 18:37-38, which the R.V. adopts. The whole is a picture of past conflict, for which the psalmist had been equipped by God. It is a literal fight, the triumph of which still glows in the singers heart and flames in his vivid words. We see him in swift pursuit, pressing hard on the enemy, crushing them with his fierce onset, trampling them under foot. They break and flee, shrieking out prayers, which the pursuer has a stern joy in knowing to be fruitless. His blows fall like those of a great pestle, and crush the fleeing wretches, who are scattered by his irresistible charge, like dust whirled by the storm. The last clause of the picture of the routed foe is better given by the various reading in 2 Samuel, which requires only a very slight alteration in one letter: “I did stamp them as the mire of the streets.” Such delight in the enemys despair and destruction, such gratification at hearing their vain cries to Jehovah, are far away from Christian sentiments; and the gulf is not wholly bridged by the consideration that the psalmist felt himself to be Gods anointed, and enmity to him to be treason against God. Most natural as his feelings were, perfectly consistent with the level of religion proper to the then stage of revelation, capable of being purified into that triumph in the victory of good and ruin of evil without which there is no vigorous sympathy with Christs battle, and kindling as they do by their splendid energy and condensed rapidity an answering glow in even readers so far away from their scene as we are, they are still of “another spirit” from that which Christ has breathed into the Church, and nothing but confusion and mischief can come of slurring over the difference. The light of battle which blazes in them is not the fire which Jesus longed to kindle upon earth.
Thus far the enemies seem to have been native foes rebelling against Gods anointed or, if the reference to the Sauline persecution is held by. seeking to prevent his reaching his throne. But, in the concluding verses of this part (Psa 18:43-45), a transition is made to victory over “strangers,” i.e. foreign nations. “The strivings of the people” seems to point back to the war described already, while “Thou hast made me the head of the nations” refers to external conquests. In 2 Samuel the reading is “my people,” which would bring out the domestic reference more strongly; but the suffix for “my” may be a defective form of writing the plural; if so, the peoples in Psa 18:43 a are the “nations” of Psa 18:43 b. In any case the royal singer celebrates the extension of his dominion. The tenses in Psa 18:44-45, which the R.V. again gives as futures (as does Hupfeld), are better regarded, like all the others, as pasts. The wider dominion is not inconsistent with Davidic origin, as his conquests were extended beyond the territory of Israel. The picture of the hasty surrender of the enemy at the very sound of the conquerors name is graphic. “They lied unto me,” as the words in Psa 18:44 b are literally, gives forcibly the feigned submission covering bitter hate. “They fade away,” as if withered by the simoom, the hot blast of the psalmists conquering power. “They come trembling [or, as 2 Samuel reads, come limping] from their strongholds.”
Psa 18:46-50 make a noble close to a noble hymn, in which the singers strong wins never flags nor the rush of thought and feeling slackens. Even more absolutely than in the rest of the psalm every victory is ascribed to Jehovah. He alone acts; the psalmist is simply the recipient. To have learned by lifes struggles and deliverances that Jehovah is a living God and “my Rock” is to have gathered lifes best fruit. A morning of tempest has cleared into sunny calm, as it always will, if tempest drives to God. He who cries to Jehovah when the floods of destruction make him afraid will in due time have to set to his seal that Jehovah liveth. If we begin with “The Lord is my Rock,” we shall end with “Blessed be my Rock.” Thankfulness does not weary of reiterating acknowledgments; and so the psalmist gathers up once more the main points of the psalm in these closing strains and lays all his mass of blessings at the feet of the Giver. His deliverance from his domestic foes and his conquests over external enemies are wholly Gods work, and therefore supply both impulse and material for praises which shall sound out beyond the limits of Israel. The vow to give thanks among the nations has been thought fatal to the Davidic origin of the psalm. Seeing, however, that some foreign peoples were conquered by him, there was opportunity for its fulfilment. His function to make known the name of Jehovah was the reason for his victories. David had learned the purpose of his elevation, and recognised in an extended kingdom a wider audience for his song. Therefore Paul penetrates to the heart of the psalm when he quotes Psa 18:49 in Rom 15:9 as a proof that the evangelising of the Gentiles was an Old Testament hope. The plain lesson from the psalmists vow is that Gods mercies bind and if felt aright will joyfully impel, the receiver to spread His name as far as his voice can reach. Love is sometimes silent, but gratitude must speak. The most unmusical voice is tuned to melody by thankfulness, and they need never want a theme who can tell what the Lord has done for their soul.
The last verse of the psalm is sometimes regarded as a liturgical addition, and the mention of David gratuitously supposed to be adverse to his authorship, but there is nothing unnatural in a kings mentioning himself in such a connection nor in the reference to his dynasty, which is evidently based upon the promise of perpetual dominion given through Nathan. The Christian reader knows how much more wonderful than the singer knew was the mercy granted to the king in that great promise, fulfilled in the Son of David, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and who bears Gods name to all the nations.