Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 18:4
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
4. The sorrows of death ] Rather, as R.V., The cords of death. But the word has been wrongly introduced here from Psa 18:5, and the true reading should be restored from 2 Sam.: the waves (lit. breakers) of death. This gives a proper parallelism to floods in the next line. But the reading cords must be very ancient, for Psa 116:3 appears to recognise it.
floods of ungodly men ] More graphically the original, torrents of destruction, or, ungodliness. Destruction threatened him like a torrent swollen by a sudden storm, and sweeping all before it (Jdg 5:21). The Heb. word belial, lit. worthlessness, may mean destruction, physical mischief, as well as wickedness, moral mischief: and the context points rather to the former sense here. Death, Destruction, and Sheol, are indeed almost personified, as conspiring for his ruin.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 6. In forcible figures David pictures the extremity of need in which he cried for help, and not in vain. Again and again there had been ‘but a step between him and death.’ (1Sa 20:3.) The perils to which he had been exposed are described as waves and torrents which threatened to engulf him or sweep him away: Sheol and Death are represented as hunters laying wait for his life with nets and snares.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The sorrows of death compassed me – Surrounded me. That is, he was in imminent danger of death, or in the midst of such pangs and sorrows as are supposed commonly to attend on death. He refers probably to some period in his past life – perhaps in the persecutions of Saul – when he was so beset with troubles and difficulties that it seemed to him that he must die. The word rendered sorrows – chebel – means, according to Gesenius, a cord, a rope, and hence, a snare, gin, noose; and the idea here is, according to Gesenius, that he was taken as it were in the snares of death, or in the bands of death. So Psa 116:3. Our translators, however, and it seems to me more correctly, regarded the word as derived from the same noun differently pointed – chebel – meaning writhings, pangs, pains, as in Isa 66:7; Jer 13:21; Jer 22:23; Hos 13:13; Job 39:3. So the Aramaic Paraphrase, Pangs as of a woman in childbirth came around me. So the Vulgate, dolores. So the Septuagint, odines. The corresponding place in 2 Sam. 22 is: The waves of death. The word which is used there – mishbar – means properly waves which break upon the shore – breakers. See Psa 42:7; Psa 88:7; Jon 2:3. Why the change was made in the psalm it is not possible to determine. Either word denotes a condition of great danger and alarm, as if death was inevitable.
And the floods of ungodly men – Margin, as in Hebrew, Belial. The word Belial means properly without use or profit; and then worthless, abandoned, wicked. It is applied to wicked men as being worthless to society, and to all the proper ends of life. Though the term here undoubtedly refers to wicked men, yet it refers to them as being worthless or abandoned – low, common, useless to mankind. The word rendered floods – nachal – means in the singular, properly, a stream, brook, rivulet; and then, a torrent, as formed by rain and snow-water in the mountains, Job 6:15. The word used here refers to such men as if they were poured forth in streams and torrents – in such multitudes that the psalmist was likely to be overwhelmed by them, as one would be by floods of water. Made me afraid. Made me apprehensive of losing my life. To what particular period of his life he here refers it is impossible now to determine.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 18:4-6
The sorrows of death compassed me.
Estimating our sorrows
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 think that it might have been cured by less ostentatious menus 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 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 Davids 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. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Davids afflictions and fears
We never can be duly thankful to God if we forget the troubles which we have suffered, and the distress of our souls when they were pressing us down. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. When Paul speaks of a great deliverance bestowed upon him in Asia, he says that God had delivered him from so great a death. In another passage he protests that he died daily.
I. Of the great distresses and dangers of David. David probably enjoyed such happiness and tranquillity as this evil world can afford before he was anointed by Samuel to be king over Israel; but almost from that time, whilst he was yet in early youth, his troubles commenced. His sore distresses were not at an end when he was advanced to the throne. But the greatest of all his dangers after his advancement to the kingdom was that to which he was exposed by his unnatural son Absalom, and his treacherous counsellor Ahithophel.
II. The consideration of the state of his mind under his troubles.
1. Great sorrow often obtained possession of his soul. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, or encompassed with sorrow even unto death. And as David was an eminent type of that blessed person, his sorrows may be considered as an emblem of those unequalled sorrows which seized on our Redeemer when He was bearing our iniquities. Poverty, exile, reproach, and danger of life are evils which make a deep impression of grief upon the minds of most men, especially when they meet together; and David, though a wise and an holy man, was not exempt from the feelings of human nature. But David was often compelled to dwell amongst men who without cause were his enemies (Psa 56:1-13). And his friends were afraid to perform the offices of friendship. But exile is more distressing to a lover of his country than poverty. It was peculiarly distressing to an Israelite indeed, who could not leave his country without leaving behind him the sanctuary of his God. They have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve other gods. Woe is me that I dwell in Meshech, and sojourn in the tents of Kedar. His heart was broken with reproach whilst he heard the slanders of many. Continual dangers to himself and to his adherents could not fail to fill his mind with great uneasiness. He had indeed promises which assured him of a happy event to himself, but there is no wonder that his faith, of these promises was sometimes shaken. But to his grief for himself, and for his friends, let us add what he felt for his country, for the indignities done to his God, and even for the guilt and misery which his enemies were bringing upon themselves, and we shall see that he drunk deeper than most other men have done in any age of the cup of affliction. He hated and abhorred every false way, and therefore he was pierced with grief at the sight and hearing of that wickedness which everywhere abounded.
2. Great fear often seized upon him. The floods of ungodly men made him afraid. But of whom was he afraid? Did he think that the Lord had forgotten to be gracious, and had in anger shut up His tender mercies? Surely he was a firm believer in the mercy and faithfulness of God. And yet his faith had a great fight to endure. It was sore tried by many enemies and by ham dispensations of providence. In days of great temptation it is very difficult to restrain those corrupt reasonings by which faith is embarrassed. What if he had made God his enemy? He surely deserved to be rebuked in Gods indignation, and chastised in His sore displeasure. God was true to His word, but His faithfulness was not bullied by destroying in the desert that generation which He brought out of Egypt, although they had the promise of entering into Gods rest which would have been fulfilled to them if they had not come short of it through their own unbelief. Such might be the workings of Davids mind at the times when a deep consciousness of guilt, and a terrifying sense of Divine displeasure discomposed his mind, although during the greater part even of the days of tribulation he could glorify God by an unshaken confidence. No man is always himself. David could often say, The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? But at other times he cried out in the agony of his soul, I am cut off from Thine eyes; I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me; I am gone like the shadow when it declineth; I am tossed up and down as the locust.
III. Why God suffered the holy man to be brought into such calamitous situations. May we not reasonably hope, that those men whom God blesses with His special favour will be preserved from those sorrows and fears which are the just portion of the wicked? Can He not by His Divine power, by which He rules over the world, set them high above all their enemies, and fill their mouths at all times with songs of triumph? Undoubtedly he can, and undoubtedly He would do it if He saw that it would tend to their best advantage.
1. His faith was tried and approved. We are called to count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of our faith worketh patience. Some remains of unbelief were found in David when his faith was tried as it were by fire (Psa 27:13-14; Psa 118:1-29).
2. His sore afflictions were means for quickening his devotions. Never was there a more fervent supplicant at the throne of grace.
3. He learned from his sore adversities the value of the Word of God. He learned the value of its promises, its precepts, its warning, its histories.
4. Those graces were improved in him by his afflictions, to the exercise of which he was to be called in the days of his prosperity–his humility, his meekness, his humanity and tenderness of heart to the poor and afflicted. David would not have been such an excellent model for kings as he was if he had obtained the throne like his successors, by hereditary right, without passing to it through a great fight of afflictions. The experience of misery taught him to pity and succour the miserable.
5. His great and sore afflictions prepared the way for those marvellous loving kindnesses which inspired him with joy and praise. He would not have spoken so rapturously on many occasions of the salvations wrought for him by the God of his salvation if he had not tasted the bitter dregs of the cup of affliction.
6. He was designed to be an eminent type of our Lord Jesus Christ in his sufferings and in his exaltation. Many of his Psalms speak of the sufferings and glory of Christ under the figure of his own sufferings and glory.
7. The Church in every age was to derive unspeakable benefit from Davids sufferings,
Improvement–
1. Think it not strange that you must endure many chastisements and trials in the world. Are your afflictions equal in number or greatness to Davids?
2. Admire the providence of God. He knows how to execute His purposes by means which seem calculated to defeat them.
3. Be ready to meet with every occurrence in the course of your lives. You do not know what evil shall befall you; but you know that man is born to trouble. Whilst you enjoy peace and quietness, be thankful but not secure. (G. Lawson.)
The floods of ungodly men made me afraid.—
Excessive wickedness destructive to a nation
By the overflowing of ungodliness the holy writer may be presumed to mean an uncommon prevalence of wickedness exceeding its ordinary measure and proportion in the world. The image represents to us impiety grown to the height, of insolence,. regardless of all rules and unrestrained by discipline.
1. Ungodliness may use to such a pitch of insolence as to be without restraint from laws or authority. The truth of fact is apparent from all histories; and it cannot be wondered at that, when the fear of God and the remonstrances of conscience have lost their force, all human authority proves weak and ineffectual. Civil government is ordained for the punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of them that do well, and whenever it is duly executed it promotes and secures the happiness of society; but unless it be assisted, supported, and conducted by religion, all its strength will be but weakness, and all its wisdom folly. If the magistrate be without any restraint flora conscience and religion, the provision of laws will become of little effect. And if the subjects of any community are without any sense of the obligations of conscience and unrestrained by religion, human laws will be found but a weak provision for peace and justice among them.
2. Whenever this is the case there is reason to apprehend the greatest evils in consequence of it. Consider the miserable consequences which even naturally must attend it. When all the wild lusts and passions of corrupt nature are let loose to their several pursuits, unrestrained by Divine and human laws, no person is secured from injury, no property from fraud or rapine. Consider such a land as exposed to the vengeance of an offended God. The natural effects of prevailing impiety are indeed properly inflictions of God, they execute an established rule and constitution of providence, by which it is ordained that all sin should be attended with some immediate punishment. But the justice of God often visits the wicked with some more signal and extraordinary inflictions.
3. What conduct is in duty and prudence required from all who are in view of such a danger.
(1) The ministers of God are by a peculiar call and obligation required to lift up their voice and cry aloud, to warn the people of their transgressions. They are placed as watchmen, and as they that must give account. Besides the special duties of those who are distinguished by a public character, every private subject who has any zeal for the glory of God, or any concern for the welfare of his country, must labour together with them, and according to his station and capacities endeavour to dispel the cloud and divert the impending ruin.
(2) By a resolute application of private reproof and admonition, by a just and open detestation of impiety, and by a vigorous assistance to the magistrate in the assertion of his authority, and the execution of all good laws, to repress the insolence of wicked men, and make the workers of iniquity ashamed.
(3) Upon the whole, everyone who fears God will under so just an apprehension of His judgments set himself with all his strength and with all his might to reduce within bounds the overflowing of ungodliness, and recall the spirit and practice of religion. If this happy effect can be obtained by the united labours and prayers of good men, God will be entreated for the land and turn away His anger from it. (J. Rogers, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. The sorrows of death compassed me] chebley maveth, the cables or cords of death. He was almost taken in those nets or stratagems by which, if he had been entangled, he would have lost his life. The stratagems to which he refers were those that were intended for his destruction; hence called the cables or cords of death.
The floods of ungodly men] Troops of wicked men were rushing upon him like an irresistible torrent; or like the waves of the sea, one impelling another forward in successive ranks; so that, thinking he must be overwhelmed by them, he was for the moment affrighted; but God turned the torrent aside, and he escaped.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The sorrows of death, i.e. dangerous and deadly troubles. Or, the bands or cords of death, which had almost seized me, and was putting its bands upon me. Compare Psa 73:4.
The floods of ungodly men; their great multitudes, and strength, and violent assaults, breaking in upon me like a flood.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. sorrowsliterally, “bandsas of a net” (Ps 116:3).
floodsdenotes”multitude.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The sorrows of death compassed me,…. These words and the following, in this verse and Ps 18:5, as they respect David, show the snares that were laid for his life, the danger of death he was in, and the anxiety of mind he was possessed of on account of it; and as they refer to Christ, include all the sorrows of his life to the time of his death, who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief personally, and bore and carried the sorrows and griefs of all his people; and may chiefly intend his sorrows in the garden, arising from a view of the sins of his people, which he was about to bear upon the cross; and from an apprehension of the wrath of God, and curse of the law, which he was going to sustain for them, when his soul was , encompassed about with sorrow, even unto death, Mt 26:38; when his sorrow was so great, and lay so heavy upon him, that it almost pressed him down to death, he could scarce live under it; and may also take in the very pains and agonies of death; he dying the death of the cross, which was a very painful and excruciating one; see Ps 22:14; The Hebrew word for “sorrows” signifies the pains and birth throes of a woman in travail; and is here fitly used of the sufferings and death of Christ; through which he brought forth much fruit, or many sons to glory. The Targum is,
“distress has encompassed me, as a woman that sits upon the stool, and has no strength to bring forth, and is in danger of dying.”
In 2Sa 22:5, it is “the waves” or “breakers of death compassed me”; and the word there used is rendered in Ho 13:13; “the breaking forth of children”; moreover the same word signifies “cords” r, as well as pains and sorrows; and the allusion may be to malefactors being bound with cords when led to execution, and put to death; and may here signify the power of death, under which the Messiah was held for a while, but was loosed from it at his resurrection; to which sense of the word, and to the words here, the Apostle Peter manifestly refers, Ac 2:24;
and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; meaning either the multitude of them, as Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Roman soldiers, and people of the Jews, who all gathered together against him; so the Targum renders it, “a company of wicked men”; or the variety of sufferings he endured by them; as spitting upon, buffering, scourging, c. The word rendered “ungodly men [is] Belial” and signifies vain, worthless, and unprofitable men; men of no figure or account; or lawless ones, such as have cast off the yoke of the law, are not subject to it; persons very wicked and profligate. The word in the New Testament seems to be used for Satan, 2Co 6:15; where it is so rendered in the Syriac version, and he may be designed here; and by the floods of Belial may be meant, not so much the temptations of Satan in the wilderness, as his violent and impetuous attacks upon Christ in the garden, when being in an agony or conflict with him, his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, Lu 22:44. The Septuagint render the word, “the torrents of iniquity troubled me”; which was true of Christ, when all the sins of his people came flowing in upon him, like mighty torrents, from all quarters; when God laid on him the iniquity of them all, and he was made sin for them; and in a view of all this “he began to be sore amazed”, Mr 14:33; compare with this Ps 69:1. Arama interprets Belial of the evil imagination in David, who had a war in himself.
r “funes mortis”, Musculus, Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth, Hammond.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 18:5-7) In these verses David gathers into one collective figure all the fearful dangers to which he had been exposed during his persecution by Saul, together with the marvellous answers and deliverances he experienced, that which is unseen, which stands in the relation to that which is visible of cause and effect, rendering itself visible to him. David here appears as passive throughout; the hand from out of the clouds seizes him and draws him out of mighty waters: while in the second part of the Psalm, in fellowship with God and under His blessing, he comes forward as a free actor.
The description begins in Psa 18:5 with the danger and the cry for help which is not in vain. The verb according to a tradition not to be doubted (cf. a wheel) signifies to go round, surround, as a poetical synonym of , , , and not, as one might after the Arabic have thought: to drive, urge. Instead of “the bands of death,” the lxx (cf. Act 2:24) renders it (constrictive pains) ; but Psa 18:6 favours the meaning bands, cords, cf. Psa 119:61 (where it is likewise instead of the , which one might have expected, Jos 17:5; Job 36:8), death is therefore represented as a hunter with a cord and net, Psa 91:3. , compounded of and (from , , root ), signifies unprofitableness, worthlessness, and in fact both deep-rooted moral corruption and also abysmal destruction (cf. 2Co 6:15, = as a name of Satan and his kingdom). Rivers of destruction are those, whose engulfing floods lead down to the abyss of destruction (Jon 2:7). Death, Beljaal , and Sheol are the names of the weird powers, which make use of David’s persecutors as their instruments. Futt. in the sense of imperfects alternate with praett. (= Arab. bgt ) signifies to come suddenly upon any one (but compare also Arab. bt , to startle, excitare, to alarm), and , to rush upon; the two words are distinguished from one another like berfallen and anfallen . The out of which Jahve hears is His heavenly dwelling-place, which is both palace and temple, inasmuch as He sits enthroned there, being worshipped by blessed spirits. belongs to : my cry which is poured forth before Him (as e.g., in Psa 102:1), for it is tautological if joined with beside . Before Jahve’s face he made supplication and his prayer urged its way into His ears.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Divine Intervention
Verses 4-19:
Verse 4 relates that David was stalked by the sorrows and shadows of death, as he was hunted and haunted by hatred of Saul, who had sought his death from his youth, Psa 116:3. Like a death threatening flood-tide, ungodly men, men who knew not God, had encircled him to cause him to run, to tremble, and to dash from hiding place to hiding place, like a rabbit or fox close chased by a pack of hounds, Hab 2:5; Psa 38:19; Psa 139:23; 2Sa 22:5; Isa 13:8; Isa 53:3-4; 2Co 1:9.
Verses 5, 6 add that the sorrows of hell (Sheol) or the grave encircled him, to prevent his escape. Death or hell (Hades) is presented as an hunter that lays or casts a snare-net or trap upon animals so that they can not escape. So had David’s enemies hounded and dogged his life. The sons of Belial, worthless men were ever pursuing the king of Israel, man of God, Deu 13:13; 2Sa 23:6. From his distress, imminent danger and tormenting fear, he cried aloud to “my God,” his Lord. Then he recounted that his God heard him from the temple, where He pledged to be always available to hear those who cried to Him from an honest and obedient heart, 2Ch 7:14-15; Isa 6:1-9; Mat 18:20; Heb 10:25.
Verse 7 begins to relate God’s appearance in a great wind storm, through which his might is unveiled, through verse 19. At His appearance the earth “shook and trembled.” The foundations of the hills shook from beneath, “because he was wroth,” with his persecutors. How much more should men tremble at the presence of God’s word and spirit when they are confronted with rebellion against God, owner and ruler of the universe and their lives, Mat 27:45-51; Rom 14:11-12; Php_2:10-11.
Verses 8, 9 assert that out of God’s spread or angry nostrils went out and up an expansion of smoke, and a billow of flames of fire shot forth from His mouth, as if kindled by coals. He also bowed the heavens, and this fury of His anger came forth as He descended in clouds upon the wicked. And darkness, dark clouds, were under His feet, as He strode forth spewing His wrath on His enemies, Isa 64:1; Joe 3:16; Mat 24:29; Heb 12:26.
Verse 10 adds that God came riding upon a cherubim, a chariot of God, and he did fly, in rapidity of speed on the wings of the wind, as described 1Ch 28:18; Psa 99:1; Psa 104:3.
Verse 11 restates the idea of v.9 that he made darkness to be His secret or hiding place, His retreat, as He put darkness “under His feet.” His encircling pavilion of judgment wrath about Him was dark waters and thick clouds, from which lightning, thunder, water, and hail were to fall, v.12-14; Psa 97:2.
Verses 12, 13 relate that at the explosive brightness of His judgment the thick black clouds gave off hail stones and coals of fire, flames of lightning. He thundered as Lord Highest of the heavens and at the sound of His voice, His beacon call hail stones and coals of fire belched forth upon the earth, as described Psa 29:3; Psa 78:47; Psalms 48; Exo 9:23-24; Jos 10:11.
Verses 14, 15 continue a description of God’s judgment upon David’s enemies. He sent out “His arrows” and scattered, confused, and dispersed them. He shot out His lightnings from the clouds and blinded, scattered them in terror. At His word channels of water, furious torrents of destructive, rolling, foaming deathly waters were seen by the enemies of God; At the blast of God’s breath and flare of His nostrils the very foundations of the earth were uncovered, as at the flood, Psa 144:6-7; Num 24:8; Deu 32:23; Deu 32:42; Job 6:4; Isa 30:30; Hab 3:4.
Verses 16, 17 are David’s testimony that the Lord sent from above (angelic sentries) and drew him out of many waters, or hostile oppression, much as He preserved and drew Moses from the bulrushes and preserved him, a type of God’s oft repeated care of His own, Exo 2:10; Psa 34:7; Psa 144:7. He adds that the Lord brought him forth out of and away from his enemies, into a large expansive place, no longer imprisoned, in hiding, or hemmed in. He delivered him, liberated him from his strong enemies who hated him. For they were too strong for David; without the Lord’s help David was overmatched; with the help of the omnipotent God his enemies were overmatched.
Verses 18, 19 relate that David’s enemies prevented him (surprised him) in the day of his calamity, when Saul camped at the opening of his cave with 3,000 soldiers, at which David referred to himself as a “dead dog” or a “flea,” 1Sa 24:1-17. But the Lord brought him forth, even into a large place of honor arid responsibility and accountability, because He delighted in His servant David, Psa 118:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. The cords (394) of death had compassed me about. David now begins to recount the undoubted and illustrious proofs by which he had experienced that the hand of God is sufficiently strong and powerful to repel all the dangers and calamities with which he may be assailed. And we need not wonder that those things which might have been described more simply, and in an unadorned style, are clothed in poetical forms of expression, and set forth with all the elegancies and ornaments of language. The Holy Spirit, to contend against and make an impression upon the wicked and perverse dispositions of men, has here furnished David with eloquence full of majesty, energy, and wonderful power, to awaken mankind to consider the benefits of God. There is scarcely any assistance God bestows, however evident and palpable it may be to our senses, which our indifference or proud disdain does not obscure. David, therefore, the more effectually to move and penetrate our minds, says that the deliverance and succor which God had granted him had been conspicuous in the whole frame-work of the world. This his intention it is needful for us to take into view, lest we should think that he exceeds due bounds in expressing himself in a style so remarkable for sublimity. The sum is, that, when in his distresses he had been reduced to extremity, he had betaken himself to God for help, and had been wonderfully preserved.
(394) “Death is here personified under the semblance of a mighty conqueror, who binds his vanquished foes in strong fetters.” — Walford.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) The sorrows of death.The Hebrew word may mean either birth pangs (LXX. and Act. 2:24, where see Note, New Testament Commentary), or cords. The figure of the hunter in the next verse, the snares of death, determines its meaning there to be cords (see margin). It is best, therefore, to keep the same rendering here: but there can be little doubt that the version in Samuel, breakers, or waves, is the true one, from the parallelism
Waves of death compassed me,
And billows of Belial terrified me.
For Belial, see Deu. 13:13. Here the parallelism fixes its meaning, ruin. For the ideas of peril and destruction, connected by the Hebrews with waves and floods, comp. Psa. 18:16, also Psa. 32:6; Psa. 42:7; Psa. 69:1. Doubtless the tradition of the Flood and of the Red Sea helped to strengthen the apprehensions natural in a country where the river annually overflowed its banks. and where a dry ravine might at any moment become a dangerous flood. The hatred of the sea arose from quite another causeviz., the dread of it as a highway for invasion.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4, 5. In these verses he gives a rapid retrospect of the collective years of his persecutions by Saul, his wars, and his exposures. He surveys them with a glance without detail.
Sorrows of death Better, cords of death.
“Cords,” here, is not the same word as snares, (Psa 18:5,) but means the bond, or leash, by which a captive or victim was held or led, as illustrated in 1Ki 20:31, and note on Psa 116:3, which see.
Floods of ungodly men Hebrew, floods or torrents of Belial: that is, floods of worthlessness, but, in the concrete, floods of worthless or wicked men. These, like a mad mountain torrent, threatened to sweep him away. It is doubtful whether , ( Belial,) is ever used in the Old Testament as a proper name. It occurs, however, as such once in the New Testament (which shows the Hebrew usage at that time, 2Co 6:15) for Satan, just as evil, with the masculine article, ( ,) means “the Evil One,” (see Mat 13:19, et al., and Satan, Psa 109:6.)
Sorrows of hell Literally, cords of sheol, the latter here used for the grave, and the phrase corresponding to “cords of death” in preceding verse. On sheol, see on Psa 16:10.
Snares of death Death is here personified, and compared to an arch hunter spreading his snares. The word snare is different from cord in preceding verse, and denotes the spring, or trapnet, possibly the trapstick by which it was set. It was concealed in the path, and, when sprung, enclosed its victim, or caught him by the foot. So Pro 13:14; Pro 14:27. The genitive in all these passages requires us to understand that the object of this leashing and snaring is the death of the victim.
Prevented me That is, the snares lay before him whichever way he turned.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Troubles and Death Had Pressed In On Him ( Psa 18:4-6 ).
‘The cords of death encompassed me,
And the floods of ungodliness (literally ‘worthlessness’ – belial) made me afraid.
The cords of Sheol were round about me,
The snares of death came on me,
In my distress I called on YHWH,
And cried to my God.
He heard my voice out of his temple,
And my cry before him came to his ears.’
David now describes the sore situation in which he had found himself time and again, especially when he had been hunted by Saul. The general nature of the description enables us to apply it to all difficult situations in which the people of God find themselves. All but the most fortunate at some time find themselves in this kind of situation, when life seems to be pressing in on them and there seems to be no solution.
‘The cords of death encompassed me, and the floods of ungodliness (literally ‘worthlessness’) made me afraid.’ David had felt the cords of death closing around him. It happened again and again in his attempts to avoid the vengeful Saul, and then also with the Philistines. He had regularly been at the point of death, only to escape with his life, and he had been continually aware that the cords of death could entangle him at any moment. He had lived in the constant shadow of death.
‘The ‘cords of death’ (see also Psa 116:3) may have reference to the ropes that bound a man who was destined for execution (compare Jdg 15:13-14), the ropes which Saul planned for David, a prospect that entered David’s mind whenever Saul’s searchers came into sight, or they may signify the ropes used to hem in wild animals in preparation for the kill, ropes by which David constantly felt himself hemmed in. In both cases they were arbiters of doom.
And the floods of destruction or of moral wickedness too had almost overwhelmed him and had made him afraid. The word belial (worthlessness) may indicate physical destruction or moral wickedness. That Saul’s behaviour had been particularly evil supports the second interpretation. It was not only his actions but the sense of the evil behind them that had shaken David to the core. In 2 Samuel 22 it is ‘the waves/breakers of death’ rather than ‘the cords of death’, which better parallels the next phrase. However the alteration to ‘cords’ connects more closely with the next verse and the whole thought.
‘The cords of Sheol were round about me, the snares of death came on me.’ He had felt continually trapped and ensnared. The cords of the grave had reached out to him, the snares of death had seemed about to close on him. The whole description is vivid, the picture of a man fighting for his very existence, with death a hairsbreadth away.
‘In my distress I called on YHWH, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry before him came to his ears.’ In his distress David cried to God. The significance of the tense is of repeated prayer. He was to succeed by steady, confident praying. And from His heavenly Temple God heard his cry (compare Psa 11:4; Isa 6:1; Isa 29:6; Isa 63:15; Mic 1:2; Hab 2:20). God’s ears were not deaf to his need. Though the answer was not instantaneous, David was confident that it would come. He knew that God had heard him and so it would have to come. We are always so impatient, thinking that God should act at once, but God’s purposes must move through to fruition in their own way. We are not the best arbiters of what is right for the world. It was during this period that he formed and trained the band of men, ‘his men’, who would prove his mainstay into the future. What we learn and achieve in these periods is regularly the mainstay of our futures. David could never have become what he did had he not gone through these experiences.
And all who sang the psalm knew something of these experiences. For all face the vicissitudes of life. And each could testify to his own personal experiences and rejoice in the certainty of God’s continual deliverance.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 18:4. The sorrows of death, &c. The whirlpools of death in heaps rolled over me. Chandler. In the parallel place of Samuel, it is, The waves of death compassed me. Dr. Delaney observes, that nothing can be a finer emblem of a host of men, in their several ranks, than the waves of the sea, succeeding one another in their natural order; and when we consider them pressing forward to the destruction of their adversaries, they may very properly be termed waves of death. The next clause is literally, The torrents of Belial made me afraid: i.e. “The forces of wicked men came down upon me like a torrent of water; as though they would have swept me away by their violence and fury; like an irresistible flood carrying all before it; and filled me with sudden terror.” It is to be observed, that, by this translation, the two clauses in this verse properly correspond to each other.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
How beautifully Peter comments upon these sufferings of Jesus, Act 2:24 . But, while we behold the holy nature of Christ, as incapable of corruption, and therefore incapable of being holden by the cords of death and the grave; let us recollect also, that the sorrows here spoken of as compassing Jesus, were that flood of our sins and transgressions, which so overwhelmed the man Christ Jesus, as to force him to sweat drops of blood in his agony, and filled his soul with amazement and anguish inexpressible. Reader, while we look at Jesus in those seasons as our Surety, oh, think what it cost his love to redeem our souls! Here, surely, the words of the church were solemnly applicable: many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. Son 8:7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 18:4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
Ver. 4. The sorrows of death compass me ] Or, the pangs, pains, throes as of a travailing woman, these environed me, or came thick and threefold upon me, perveniebant usque ad even to my face (as the Rabbins descant upon the word), or flew upon me; desperate and deadly dangers assailed me. Medrash. Tillin. Aphaphuni pro gnaphaphuni. The worst of an evil escaped is to be thankfully acknowledged, and highest strains of eloquence therein to be used so that pride be avoided, and the praise of God only aimed at.
And the floods of ungodly men NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 18:4-6
4The cords of death encompassed me,
And the torrents of ungodliness terrified me.
5The cords of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
6In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice out of His temple,
And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.
Psa 18:4-5 The psalmist describes his distress in vivid, parallel, poetic language.
1. the cords (i.e., snares, cf. Pro 13:14; Pro 14:27) of death encompassed me BDB 67, KB 79, Qal perfect, cf. Psa 116:3; it is possible that cords, following 2 Samuel 22, should be understood as waves, which forms a good parallel to the next line of poetry. The NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 482, mentions that the DSS (IQH [i.e., Dead Sea Scroll MS] 3:28; 5:39) uses the verb for thanking God for deliverance from
a. pangs of death
b. rivers of Belial
This also fits the context here.
2. the torrents of Belial (BDB 116, cf. Nah 1:15; 2Co 6:15) terrified me BDB 129, KB 147, Piel imperfect; the verb is used often in Job (cf. Job 3:5; Job 9:34; Job 13:11; Job 13:21; Job 15:24; Job 18:11; Job 33:7). In 2Sa 22:5 Belial is translated destruction, which shows it can be non-personal
3. the cords of Sheol (see Special Topic: THE DEAD, WHERE ARE THEY? ) surround me BDB 685, KB 738, Qal perfect, cf. Psa 17:11; Psa 22:12; Psa 22:16; Psa 49:5; Psa 88:17; Psa 118:10-12
4. the snares of death confronted me BDB 869, KB 1068, Piel perfect, cf. Psa 18:18; Job 30:27
As my was prominent in Psa 18:1-3, now me as the object of attack is prominent in Psa 18:4-5. Every human is fearful of death until they have a personal faith encounter with the God of life and love (cf. 1Jn 4:7-21)! Satan does not control death but he does magnify the fear of death.
Psa 18:6 Psa 18:6 is the psalmist’s response to his sense of impending death (i.e., distress, BDB 856 II, cf. Job 15:24; Job 38:23; Psa 66:14; Psa 119:143).
1. I called upon the Lord BDB 894, KB 1128, Qal imperfect
2. I cried to my God BDB 1002, KB 1443, Piel imperfect
His prayers are answered.
1. He heard my voice out of His temple
2. He heard my cry for help before it came into His ears (cf. Psa 6:8-9; Psa 28:2; Psa 28:6)
Notice the parallelism of lines 1 and 2 then lines 3 and 4. This synonymous parallelism is characteristic of Hebrew poetry (see Introductory Article). The God of protection is also the God who responds to prayer!
sorrows = meshes, or snares (Hebrew. hebel). Not bodily pains.
ungodly men = Belial.
Psa 18:4-6
Psa 18:4-6
“The cords of death compassed me,
And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The cords of Sheol were round about me;
The snares of death came upon me.
In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and cried unto my God:
He heard my voice out of his temple,
And my cry before him came into his ears.”
David’s crying unto Jehovah was directly the result of the distress which came upon him. This reminds us of the words of Jonah, who said, “By reason of my affliction, I cried unto Jehovah” (Jon 2:2). There can be no better reason for calling upon the Lord than that of acute danger, distress, and threatenings of death.
Heard my voice out of his temple. This has no reference whatever to Solomon’s temple, but means that God in heaven heard the prayer of the psalmist. See further discussion of this above in the opening paragraphs of this chapter.
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.
sorrows: Psa 116:3, 2Sa 22:5, 2Sa 22:6, Isa 13:8, Isa 53:3, Isa 53:4, Mat 26:38, Mat 26:39, Mar 14:33, Mar 14:34, 2Co 1:9
floods: Psa 22:12, Psa 22:13, Psa 22:16, Jon 2:2-7, Mat 26:47, Mat 26:55, Mat 27:24, Mat 27:25, Mat 27:39-44, Act 21:30
ungodly men: Heb. Belial
Reciprocal: Gen 32:7 – greatly Job 27:20 – Terrors Job 30:14 – as a wide Psa 18:6 – distress Psa 27:2 – wicked Psa 46:3 – the waters Psa 55:4 – terrors Psa 55:8 – the windy storm Psa 69:1 – the waters Psa 91:15 – He shall Psa 93:3 – The floods Psa 119:143 – Trouble Psa 124:4 – the waters Psa 130:1 – Out of Psa 142:2 – I showed Isa 17:12 – make a noise Jer 51:42 – General Lam 3:54 – Waters Rev 12:15 – cast Rev 17:15 – The waters
Psa 18:4-5. The sorrows of death compassed me That is, dangerous and deadly troubles. Or, the bands, or cords, of death, as , cheblee, may be rendered, qu hominem quasi fune arctissime constringunt, which binds a man most closely, as with a cord, whence the word is used concerning the pains of women in labour. And the floods of ungodly men Literally, of Belial, as in the margin. Their great multitudes, strength, and violence, broke in upon me like an irresistible flood, carrying all before it, or like a torrent came down upon me as though they would have swept me away by their fury. Nothing, says Dr. Delaney, can be a finer emblem of a host of men, in their several ranks, than the waves of the sea succeeding one another in their natural order. And when we consider them pressing forward to the destruction of their adversaries, they may be very properly termed waves of death. The sorrows Or, cords, of hell, or of death, compassed me about Brought me to the brink of the grave; the snares of death prevented me Deadly snares came upon me, and almost took hold on me, before I was aware of my danger.
18:4 {c} The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
(c) He speaks of the dangers and malice of his enemies from which God had delivered him.
2. God’s deliverance 18:4-29
In this extended section, David reviewed how God had saved him in times of danger. In Psa 18:4-19 he described God’s supernatural deliverance, and in Psa 18:20-29 he explained it as he saw it through the lens of his faith in God.
Death had previously had him in its grip, as rope binds a prisoner. The forces of ungodliness terrified David, as when one finds himself in a wadi (dry stream bed) during a spring thunderstorm and discovers a wall of water coming toward him. He pictured himself trying to pick his steps through a field full of traps that hunters had set to trap animals.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)