2 SAMUEL 22 COMMENTARYEDITED BY GLENN PEASE

David's Song of Praise

1 David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

BARNES, "The son of Bichri ... - Rather, “a Bichrite,” formed like the names “Ahohite,” “Hachmonite,” etc. 2Sa_23:8-9, and so called from Becher, the son of Benjamin Gen_46:21; 1Ch_7:6-8 Saul was also of this family. It is evident that the transfer of the royalty from their tribe to that of Judah still rankled in the hearts of many Benjamites (2Sa_16:8 note).

CLARKE, "Sheba, the son of Bichri - As this man was a Benjamite, he probably belonged to the family of Saul; and he seems to have had considerable influence in Israel to raise such an insurrection: but we know nothing farther of him than what is related in this place.

We have no part in David - We of Israel, we of the ten tribes, are under no obligation to the house of David. Leave him, and let every man fall into the ranks under his own leader.

GILL, "And there happened to be a man of Belial,.... A wicked man, as the Targum, a lawless, yokeless man, that had cast off the yoke of the law, and was without it, as Belial is by some interpreted; or one unprofitable and useless, yea, noxious and pernicious: this man, though, with respect to second causes, may be said to be there by chance, yet it was so ordered by the providence of God that he should be present at this time for the further fulfilment of the threatening to David, that the sword should not depart from his house:

whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; one perhaps that had been in the rebellion of Absalom, and had a grudge against David for the removal of the kingdom out of that tribe:

and he blew a trumpet; which was done to draw off the Israelites from David, and gather a party to himself:

and said, we have no part in David; so he interpreted what the men of Judah said, because they claimed kindred to David, the rest of the Israelites had no interest in him; thus they, who just before said they had ten parts in him, now had none at all:

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neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; so he calls David by way of contempt, as if he was no king, but a private person, and a descendant from a mean family:

every man to his tent, O Israel; there to consider what to do, and whom to choose to be their king, and let Judah take David for their king, and enjoy him alone, since they had so slighted, and dealt so injuriously and roughly with the rest of the tribes.

HENRY 1-2, "David, in the midst of his triumphs, has here the affliction to see his kingdom disturbed and his family disgraced.

I. His subjects revolting from him at the instigation of a man of Belial, whom they followed when they forsook the man after God's own heart. Observe, 1. That this happened immediately upon the crushing of Absalom's rebellion. We must not think it strange, while we are in this world, if the end of one trouble be the beginning of another: deep sometimes calls unto deep. 2. That the people were now just returning to their allegiance, when, of a sudden, they flew off from it. When a reconciliation is newly made, it ought to be handled with great tenderness and caution, lest the peace break again before it be settled. A broken bone, when it is set, must have time to knot. 3. That the ring-leader of this rebellion was Sheba, a Benjamite by birth (2Sa_20:1), who had his habitation in Mount Ephraim, 2Sa_20:21. Shimei and he were both of Saul's tribe, and both retained the ancient grudge of that house. Against the kingdom of the Messiah there is an hereditary enmity in the serpent's seed, and a succession of attempts to overthrow it (Psa_2:1, Psa_2:2); but he that sits in heaven laughs at them all. 4. That the occasion of it was that foolish quarrel, which we read of in the close of the foregoing chapter, between the elders of Israel and the elders of Judah, about bringing the king back. It was a point of honour that was disputed between them, which had most interest in David. “We are more numerous,” say the elders of Israel. “We are nearer akin to him,” say the elders of Judah. Now one would think David very safe and happy when his subjects are striving which shall love him best, and be most forward to show him respect; yet even that strife proves the occasion of a rebellion. The men of Israel complained to David of the slight which the men of Judah had put upon them. If he had now countenanced their complaint, commended their zeal, and returned them thanks for it, he might have confirmed them in his interest; but he seemed partial to his own tribe: Their words prevailed above the words of the men of Israel; as some read the last words of the foregoing chapter. David inclined to justify them, and, when the men of Israel perceived this, they flew off with indignation. “If the king will suffer himself to be engrossed by the men of Judah, let him and them make their best of one another, and we will set up one for ourselves. We thought we had ten parts in David, but such an interest will not be allowed us; the men of Judah tell us, in effect, we have no part in him, and therefore we will have none, nor will we attend him any further in his return to Jerusalem, nor own him for our king.” This was proclaimed by Sheba (2Sa_20:1), who probably was a man of note, and had been active in Absalom's rebellion; the disgusted Israelites took the hint, and went up from after David to follow Sheba(2Sa_20:2), that is, the generality of them did so, only the men of Judah adhered to him. Learn hence, (1.) That it is as impolitic for princes to be partial in their attentions to their subjects as it is for parents to be so to their children; both should carry it with an even hand. (2.) Those know not what they do that make light of the affections of their inferiors, by not countenancing and accepting it. Their hatred may be feared whose love is despised. (3.) The beginning of strife is as the letting forth of water; it is therefore wisdom to leave it off before it be meddled with, Pro_17:14. How great a matter doth a little of this fire kindle! (4.) The perverting of words is the

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subverting of peace; and much mischief is made by forcing invidious constructions upon what is said and written and drawing consequences that were never intended. The men of Judah said, The king is near of kin to us. “By this,” say the men of Israel, “you mean that we have no part in him;” whereas they meant no such thing. (5.) People are very apt to run into extremes. We have ten parts in David, said they; and, almost in the next breath, We have no part in him. Today Hosanna, tomorrow Crucify.

JAMISON, "2Sa_20:1-9. Sheba makes a party in Israel.

Sheba ... a Benjamite — Though nothing is known of this man, he must have been a person of considerable power and influence, before he could have raised so sudden and extensive a sedition. He belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, where the adherents of Saul’s dynasty were still numerous; and perceiving the strong disgust of the other tribes with the part assumed by Judah in the restoration, his ill-designing heart resolved to turn it to the overthrow of David’s authority in Israel.

every man to his tents — This proverbial expression may have had its foundation in the fact, that many of the Israelite peasantry adhered to the custom of the patriarchs who tilled land, and yet lived in tents, as Syrian peasants often do still. This was the usual watchword of national insurrection, and from the actual temper of the people, it was followed by effects beyond what he probably anticipated.

K&D, "Sheba's Rebellion. - 2Sa_20:1. There happened to be a worthless man there, named Sheba, a Benjaminite. He blew the trumpet, and said, “We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, O Israel!” “To his tents,” i.e., to his home, as in 2Sa_19:9, etc.

COFFMAN, "DAVID'S SONG OF VICTORY OVER HIS ENEMIES IS ALMOST IDENTICAL WITH PS. 18

"And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him, from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul."

This entire chapter is a duplicate of Psalms 18, with only the slightest variations, none of which is of any special importance. However, these variations, inconsequential as they are, have been the basis of some comments which might not necessarily be true. For example, our greatly respected Dr. Willis, whose work in the Books of Samuel have been so helpful in these studies, pointed out that, "Whole lines may appear in one of these chapters but not in the other, words or phrases may appear in one but not in the other, synonyms of some words may be used in one of these in place of a different word in the other; and some words are transposed, appearing in a different order in one as compared with the other."[1]

All of this, of course, is certainly true, but what should be our conclusion from the consideration of such facts? Willis concluded that, "This shows that the

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Biblical authors were not concerned with preserving the exact words of those whom they quoted."[2] To this usual deduction, echoed by many scholars, we wish to oppose an opposite view which this writer has long accepted, namely, that both chapters, even with their variations, are inspired and true exactly as they stand. It is certainly possible that David repeated this Psalm with the identical variations which appear in them.

"BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD" (Matthew 4:2)

Christ made many arguments from the Sacred Scriptures to turn, not merely upon the exact words, but also on the very tense of a word.

Jesus said, "And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." (Matthew 22:31-32).

The significance of this is that our Savior made an argument proving the resurrection of the dead to turn upon a single two-letter word, the word "am", and the tense of the little verb, at that!

The inspired writers often "quoted" Scriptures with variations, but many such "quotations" are not "quotes" at all, but new Scriptures written by the inspired writer. We have cited many such examples in our commentaries. For example, see our comments under Ephesians 4:7-8, and under Romans 12:19, where in both instances the inspired Paul used O.T. passages with variations, but they must not be viewed as Paul's faulty memory of what the quotations really were, but as NEW SCRIPTURE inspired exactly as Paul gave it.

David was the inspired author of both this chapter and Psalms 18; and one of them is just as inspired as the other is.

It is a dangerous notion that some have imported into their interpretations of the type of variations we encounter here, namely, the view that THE EXACT WORDS ARE NOT IMPORTANT. IT'S ONLY THE GIST OF THE TRUTH THAT COUNTS. It is always impossible to know what the GIST OF THE TRUTH is unless we can discern it in the exact words used by the Holy Spirit.

The apostle Paul, especially, was diligent to observe the principle which we are here advocating. He made an argument pertaining to the identity of Christ himself to turn upon the number of a single noun.

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To Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to SEEDS, as of many, but as of one. And in thy SEED which is Christ (Galatians 3:16).

Here we have Paul's great doctrine of Christ, the SEED SINGULAR of Abraham, and it is an example of the extreme untrustworthiness of the RSV that the translators have corrupted the verse in Genesis 17:7 (which Paul here quoted), by substituting a plural word for seed (singular).

There is also an extensive application of this important principle in the interpretation of the N.T. The so-called doublets, in which we have similar statements by Christ, as variously reported by the gospels are not to be understood as variations of some imaginary invariable text, but as independently true and exactly accurate as they stand in the sacred Gospels.

The ridiculous critical canard that Christ made his declarations in some imaginary invariable form is not true. The ministry of our Lord lasted about four years, and, like any campaign speaker in an election year, he delivered the same message in different words upon many different occasions. There are two variations of the Lord's prayer, two variations of the Great Sermon called the Sermon on the Mount in one place and the Sermon on the Plain in another. All are exactly correct as they stand in the N.T. No proper understanding of the Word of God is possible without taking account of this understanding of variations in the vocabulary used by the inspired writers in speaking of the same or similar events and teachings.

(We have devoted fourteen pages to a discussion of this Song of David as recorded in Psalms 18 of our Vol. 2 commentary on The Psalms. The opinions of fifteen reputable scholars are also cited therein; and for those who are interested in a more detailed discussion of what is written here in 2 Samuel 22, we believe it is sufficient to refer them to what we have written there.)

The Holy Spirit did not convey IDEAS to the inspired authors of the Bible, trusting them to express them in their own words, but He gave them the EXACT WORDS of God's message, words which they frequently did not understand at all, as stated by the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:10-12. No system of interpreting Biblical passages is correct that ignores this principle.

CONSTABLE, "Verses 1-51

C. David's Praise of Yahweh ch. 22

"It has long been recognized that 2 Samuel 22 is not only one of the oldest major poems in the OT but also that, because Psalms 18 parallels it almost verbatim, it is a key passage for the theory and practice of OT textual criticism." [Note: Youngblood, p. 1064.]

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This psalm records David's own expression of the theological message the writer of Samuel expounded historically. Yahweh is King, and He blesses those who submit to His authority in many ways. 2 Samuel 22:21 is perhaps the key verse. David learned the truths expressed in this psalm and evidently composed it early in his career (2 Samuel 22:1).

This song shares several key themes with Hannah's song (1 Samuel 2:1-10). Both David and Hannah used "horn" as a figure of strength at the beginning (2 Samuel 22:3; 1 Samuel 2:1) and "rock" as a figure for God (v. 2 Samuel 22:2; 1 Samuel 2:2). They both referred to divine deliverance (2 Samuel 22:3; 1 Samuel 2:1-2) and ended by equating God's king with His anointed (2 Samuel 22:51; 1 Samuel 2:10). Thus these two songs form a kind of inclusio around the Books of Samuel and give them unity. Given the similarities, each makes its own unique statement as well. [Note: See Frank Moore Cross Jr., and David Noel Freedman, "A Royal Song of Thanksgiving-2 Samuel 22 = Psalms 18," Journal of Biblical Literature 72:1 (1953):15-34.]

This is a psalm of declarative praise for what God had done for David. It reflects David's rich spiritual life. While David focused attention on the Lord more than on himself, his emphasis was on the blessings Yahweh had bestowed on him.

We can divide the passage into four sections: the Lord's exaltation (2 Samuel 22:1-4), the Lord's exploits (2 Samuel 22:5-20), the Lord's equity (2 Samuel 22:21-30), and the Lord's excellence (2 Samuel 22:31-51). [Note: Merrill, "2 Samuel," in The Old ..., pp. 477, 480.]

The reference to God's temple (2 Samuel 22:7) probably means heaven. "Arrows" (2 Samuel 22:15) is a figure for lightning bolts. God had drawn David out of the waters of affliction as Pharaoh's daughter had drawn Moses out of literal dangerous waters (2 Samuel 22:17). God had rewarded David (not saved him) because of his righteous conduct (2 Samuel 22:21). Cleanness (Heb. bor) of hands (2 Samuel 22:21) is a figure describing moral purity that derives from the practice of washing the hands with soda (bor), probably some sodium compound used as a cleansing agent.

"The psalmist is not talking about justification by works, much less about sinless perfection, but about 'a conscience void of offence toward God and men' (Acts 24:16)." [Note: Gordon, p. 306.]

God responds to people according to their conduct (2 Samuel 22:26-27). He is astute (shrewd) to the perverted (crooked, 2 Samuel 22:27) in the sense that He turns them into fools. [Note: Youngblood, p. 1073; Carlson, pp. 251-52.] The similes in 2 Samuel 22:43 picture David's enemies as objects of humiliation and contempt. [Note: Youngblood, p. 1075.]

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"It is ... both serendipitous and satisfying that the Song of David, a psalm of impressive scope and exquisite beauty, should begin with 'The LORD' (2 Samuel 22:2), the Eternal One, and end with 'forever' (2 Samuel 22:51)." [Note: Ibid., p. 1077.]

ELLICOTT, "Introduction

XXII.

This chapter, with numerous slight variations, constitutes Psalms 18, the first verse here serving as the title there, with only such differences as the nature of the Book of Psalms required. With this title may be compared the inscriptions of other historical psalms, as Exodus 15:1; Deuteronomy 31:30.

No more definite time can be assigned for the composition of this hymn than that already given in its title. 2 Samuel 22:51 shows that it must have been after the visit of Nathan promising the perpetuity of David’s kingdom.

As comment upon this psalm will naturally be expected in connection with the Book of Psalms, only the differences between these two copies will here be spoken of. On the whole, the form given in the Psalms seems to be the later, and to have been in some points intentionally altered—probably by David himself—to adapt it to the exigencies of liturgical worship; but it must also be remembered that minor differences inevitably grow up in the copying of manuscripts age after age, and that much of the lesser variation is undoubtedly due to this cause.

BI 1-5, "And there happened to be there a man of Belial.

Rebellion of Sheba

This chapter is a relation of Sheba’s rebellion.

1. The trumpet of this new rebellion was a son of Belial, Sheba the son of Bichri, whom God by His providence ordered to be present when this paroxism or hot fit of contention happened betwixt the tribe of Judah and the tribes of Israel as before. The Devil (who loves to fish in troubled waters) strikes in with this opportunity, as a fit hour of temptation for him, and excites this Belialist to blow a trumpet and to sound a retreat in the ears of those Israelites, saying [Seeing the men of Judah say that we have no part in David, but they do monopolize him to themselves] let them have him, and let us choose another for ourselves, hoping that they would choose him, because he was a Benjamite akin to Saul, and supposed to be the chiefest captain under Amasa to Absalom (2Sa_20:1.)

2. This Belialist (so-called) was for casting off the yoke of David (as the Hebrew word Belial signifies) and being grieved that the kingdom was translated from Saul’s house to David, he bespatters David, calling him the son of Jesse, a private person, so the crown could not descend upon David by inheritance, and therefore (saith he) we are at liberty to choose a new king. This opprobrious title that Sheba gave David here did savour of Saul (who had oft called him so in contempt) and of the old enmity: and possibly Sheba might aggravate to those Israelites, that

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David had sent Zadock and Abiathar to the men of Judah that they might be persuaded to fetch back the King, but he sent them not to our elders; therefore seeing he hath so slighted us, let us look to our own concerns, and let him look to his (2Sa_20:1.)

3. Behold how great a flame of fire a little spark doth kindle (Jas_3:5) when God gives way thereunto, Sheba’s presence and influence upon those Israelites, though casual in itself, and as to men, yet was it ordered so by the providence of God, who permitted the devil to blow up this blast of rebellion for several reasons: as

(1) first, For a further exercise of David’s faith and patience;

(2) secondly, To purge out of David’s kingdom all factious and seditious spirits;

(3) thirdly, To punish Sheba the ringleader of those rebels;

(4) fourthly, To animadvert David to his betraying Uriah, and of his spearing Shimei, and (as some add) of his unjust dealing with his dear Mephibosheth, &c., for these and other sins of David God was pleased to correct him again with this new affliction, before he was well got out of the old. (C. Ness.)

Revolt and pursuit of Sheba. -

1. We are first introduced to Sheba, the son of Bichri, or, as it is read by recent commentators, the Bichrite—that is, a member of the family of Becher, the second son of Benjamin. This man was, therefore, by so much related to the clan of Saul. It is difficult to get the old taint out of the blood. Sheba is a minimised Saul, full of hostility to David and all his interests. Even bad men have their opportunity in life. We have seen again and again how easy it is to do mischief. Sheba, a man who probably had no power to construct a positive fame by deeds of beneficence and the origination of statesmanlike policies, had it in his power to set fire to dangerous substances and bring into peril a movement which promised to consummate itself in the happiest results to Israel. The historical instance ought to be a continual lesson. The meanest man may pull down a wall, or set fire to a palace, or whisper a slander concerning the character of a king. The remarkable thing is that whilst society is well aware of all this possibility, it is willing to lend an ear to every wicked speaker Who arises, insisting upon the old and detestable sophism flint although the report may not be wholly and literally true, there yet must be some foundation for it.

2. Sheba is described in the text as “a man of Belial,” in other words, a child of the devil. A man’s spiriutal parentage is known by the deeds in which he delights. We have in the first verse a kind of double genealogy of Sheba; he is called “the son of Bichri, a Benjamite,” and he is also described as “a man of Belial.” It would seem as if in some cases men had a lineal physical descent, and had also a direct spiritual ancestry. Account for it as we may, there are practical differences in spirit and character which would seem almost to suggest two different grades or qualities of human nature. Whilst it is profoundly and sadly true that all men are apostates, and that there is none righteous, no, not one, it is also undeniable that there are chiefs in the army of evil, princes of sin, royal and dominating personages in the whole kingdom of wickedness. They are ingenious in the device of evil; their imagination is afire with the very spirit of perdition; they can invent new departures, striking policies, undreamed-of cruelties, unimaginable wanderings from the path of rectitude. It is most certain that many men simply

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“follow a multitude to do evil”; they have little or no invention of their own; they would never originate rebellions or lead insurrections, or devise plots involving great disasters; they are but followers, imitators, echoes not voices, persons who go by the bulk and not by detail, being only of consequence in proportion to their multiudinousness, having no independent spirit of their own when taken one by one.

3. David, being now impatient of the insolence of Joab, and willing to avail himself of an opportunity of superseding that able but arrogant captain, gave an appointment to Amasa. As Amasa went forth he encountered an unexpected foe in the person of Joab. It is explained in the text how Joab by a peculiar arrangement of his dress—a girdle bound round his military coat—had contrived to conceal a dagger which would fall out as lie advanced. The dagger falling out thus gave Joab an opportunity of naturally picking it up, as he wished to use it, without exciting the suspicion of Amasa. Thus even in so small a trick the depravity of Joab is made manifest. Taking Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him, Joab smote him in the fifth rib, with but one blow; but that a fatal stroke. Joab would thus tolerate no rivals by whomsoever they might have been appointed. This desperateness of spirit was really part of the greatness of the man,—that is to say, apart from such desperateness he never could have brought to bear all his various faculties of statesman and soldier. Morality has often commented upon the circumstance that great talents should be turned to base uses. So it is the world over: the completer the education as a merely intellectual exercise, the more disastrous is the power to do evil, unless the education has been supported and chastened by adequate moral training. It is mere idolatry to admire greatness alone: when that greatness is held in check by enlightened consciousness, then its recognition really involves an act of worship to him who is the Spirit of Righteousness and the teacher of the world. It is but lust, however, to say that we are not to judge Joab by the morality of a much later age. Morality itself is part of an infinite but most beneficent evolution. Even a good cause may have bad supporters. The cause in which Joab was now engaged was unquestionably a good one, being nothing less than the restoration of David to his kingly position in Israel, and by so much the fulfilment of a divine covenant. Joab had a good cause, but he brought to its support a very questionable character. Is not this same instance repeating itself along the whole line of history? Is not the Church indebted to many a man whose heart is in the world and whose ambition is his only god? Are there not some men eloquent of tongue whose hearts are silent as to true worship? Is not good money often given by polluted hands? (J. Parker, D. D.)

Disunion the devil’s policy.

“Cyrus, in Herodotus, going to fight against Scythia, coming to a broad river, and not being able to pass over it, cut and divided it into divers arms and sluices, and so made it passable for all his army. This is the devil’s policy; he laboureth to divide the people of God, and separate us into divers sects and factions, that so he may easily overcome us.” This needs no comment. What is needed is that by a spirit of brotherly love we promote the unity of all the churches, and the peace and concord of that to which we belong. May the peace of the church be “as a river.” Unity is strength. “Divide and conquer” is Satan’s watchword to his myrmidons. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

When the South Carolina convention broke up with a declaration of secession from

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the north, and the Civil War was thereby proclaimed, there were great jubilations. Bells were rung, cannon saluted, and the street,s were filled with the noise and display of great parades. But what a drama of blood it led to, and what a tragedy of disastrous defeat was its end! (H. O. Mackey.)

PETT,"A Psalm About The God Who Delivers, And Of How He Has Delivered (2 Samuel 22:1-51).

Having revealed by the judgment on the house of Saul that God is a just God who deals severely with sin and judges those who go against His covenant (2 Samuel 21:1-14), and having described the earthly means (the mighty men) by which He had provided for the deliverance of both David and Israel (2 Samuel 21:15-22), the section now focuses in on the God of Deliverance Himself. Its purpose is to make clear that the background to all that has been described in the book of Samuel has been that of God acting invisibly but effectively in deliverance. It is that fact that has been the secret of David’s outwitting of Saul, and it that fact that has been the secret of all his victories over his enemies. Thus in the Psalm that now follows we are given an insider’s view of the effective, invisible activity of God working on David’s behalf.

This activity is depicted in terms of vivid and powerful natural phenomena, but it should be noted that it actually occurred, as far as men were concerned, invisibly to the naked eye, or even to human experience, for when the battle was on or the chase was taking place there was usually no visible storm. Rather the sun would usually have been shining blissfully in a cloudless sky. The activity was only visible to the eye of faith. But the point of the Psalmist is that whatever might be men’s physical apprehension of the situation at the time (and it might have been a beautiful summer’s day), when David called on the invisible God, He was immediately there, acting as powerfully as a magnificent storm, and sweeping all before Him. Earth might outwardly appear relatively quiet to those involved, but that was because men could not see the invisible. But to those who did see the invisible, the heavens became filled with powerful and violent activity, because YHWH was acting on David’s behalf (compare 2 Kings 6:17 where it is put in a slightly different way for Elisha and his servant). And the result was that his enemies, totally unaware of the powers at work against them and striving vainly against him, could not stand before him.

Analysis.

a YHWH has delivered David from his enemies and especially from Saul (2 Samuel 22:1).

b YHWH is David’s rock, fortress and shield and the horn of his salvation, his Saviour Who has saved him (2 Samuel 22:1-4)

c David cries in his need to YHWH, Who hears him, with the result that YHWH comes in His great power and splendour to act on David’s behalf (2 Samuel 22:5-13).

d YHWH routs the enemy by His power, and delivers David from his particular trouble (2 Samuel 22:14-20).

e This is because David has walked righteously before Him, the same is true for

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all who walk righteously (2 Samuel 22:21-28).

f YHWH is David’s lamp who enables him in all that he has to face (2 Samuel 22:29-30).

e He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him (2 Samuel 22:31-32).

d YHWH has made David powerfully effective in war, that is why his feet do not slip and his enemies flee before him (2 Samuel 22:33-40).

c And that is why his enemies are powerless before him, and no nation can stand before him (2 Samuel 22:41-46).

b Because YHWH is his rock and salvation none can be effective before him (2 Samuel 22:47-49).

a That is why he thanks God, because He gives great and everlasting deliverance to His king, to His Anointed (2 Samuel 22:50-51).

Note that in ‘a’ YHWH delivered David from all his enemies and especially from Saul (who sought him because he suspected that he was YHWH’s Anointed), and in the parallel he thanks YHWH for his deliverance because he is YHWH’s Anointed. In ‘b’ YHWH is David’s Rock, and is the horn of his salvation, and in the parallel He is David’s rock, and the rock of his salvation. In ‘c’ David cries in his need to YHWH and YHWH comes to him effectively and powerfully, and in the parallel that is why David is invincible. In ‘d’ YHWH routs the enemy by His almighty power, and in the parallel He makes David powerfully effective in war so that he routs all his enemies. In ‘e’ all who walk righteously are watched over by YHWH and in the parallel He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him. Centrally in ‘f’ YHWH is David’s lamp and sufficiency.

The whole point of the Psalm in context is in order to bring out that everything which was good that has happened to David he owes to YHWH, and that he is where he now is because of YHWH’s constantly revealed power, and because of His constant watch over him.

2 Samuel 22:1

‘And David spoke to YHWH the words of this song in the day that YHWH delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul.’

For a parallel ‘introduction’ to a Psalm see Deuteronomy 31:30. Note how this statement very much has 1 Samuel in mind. It is a reminder that Samuel is to be seen as one book, for the statement lays great emphasis on David’s deliverance from Saul (the previous chapter having already reminded us of the bloodthirstiness of Saul (2 Samuel 21:1)). But it also has in mind David’s later victories, for it emphasises that it has been by YHWH that he has been delivered out of the hands of all his enemies. The writer was by this emphasising that David wanted no glory to go to himself. Rather David was emphatically recognising that he owed all to YHWH and to His great demonstrations of invisible power. For David was only too well aware that when he and his men had trudged the hot and dusty desert as they had fled from Saul, it had been YHWH Who had been there, effectively working in his defence in supernatural power. And it had been the same when he had faced his other enemies. And he was duly grateful.

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PINK, "2 Samuel 22 opens with the word "And," which at once suggests there is a close connection between its contents and what was has immediately preceded. The chapter which is now to be before us records David’s grand psalm of thanksgiving, and, as its opening verse intimates, it was sung by him in celebration of the signal deliverances which God had granted him from his many enemies. In the previous chapter we had an account of the execution of the sons of Saul, followed by a summary of Israel’s victories over the Philistines and the slaying of a number of their giants. In our last chapter we sought to point out the spiritual application of these things, as they bear upon the lives of Christians today, and the same line of thought is to be followed as we enter the present chapter. It is this looking for the practical hearing of the Scriptures upon ourselves which is so sorely needed, and which, alas, is now so much neglected by the present generation; only thus do we make the Bible a living Book, suited to our present need.The spiritual and practical link of connection between 2 Samuel 21 and 22 is not difficult to perceive. As was shown in our last, the execution of the sons of Saul (seven in number, for the work must be done completely) is to be regarded as a figure of the believer’s mortifying his lusts, and the conflicts which followed between Israel and the Philistines, David and the giants, symbolizes the fact that that warfare with sin which the saint is called upon to wage, continues till the end of his earthly course. Now the work of mortification is indeed a painful one, nevertheless it issues in a joyful sequel. The plucking out of right eyes and the cutting off of right hands doubtless produces many a groan, yet will they be followed by melodious thanksgiving. Death figures prominently in 2 Samuel 21, but 2 Samuel 22 opens with a "Song!" Here, then, is the obvious connection: when death be written upon our lusts, music will fill the heart; when that which is displeasing to God has been put away, the Spirit will tune our souls to sing Jehovah’s praise.

It is a most interesting and instructive study to trace out the sacred "Songs" of Scripture, paving particular attention to their setting. The first one is recorded in Exodus 15. We read not of the Hebrews celebrating the Lord’s praises while they were in Egypt, but only of their sighing and groaning (Ex. 2:23. 24). But when they had been delivered from the house of bondage and their foes had been drowned in the Red Sea, a song of worship ascended from their heart. Again, we read of Israel singing when the Lord supplied them with water (Num. 21:17). Moses ended his wilderness wanderings with a song (Deut. 31:22). Upon Israel’s victory over the Canaanites they sang a song (Judges 5:1). Job speaks of God giving "songs in the night" (35:10)—a real, if a rare, experience, as many saints can testify. The Psalmist said. "Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage" (119:54).

There is a most marked similarity between the Song of David in 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18 (observe the latter’s superscription), indeed so close is the resemblance that almost all of the commentators have regarded them as being one and the same, attempting to account for their verbal variations (which though incidental are by no means few in number) on the supposition that the latter is a revised edition of the former. But such an assumption does not seem at all satisfactory—

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to us it appears a serious slight upon divine inspiration: surely the Holy Spirit never needs to make any emendations! We therefore greatly prefer the view of C. H. Spurgeon: "We have another form of this eighteenth Psalm with slight variations, in 2 Samuel 22, and this suggests the idea that it was sung by him on different occasions when he reviewed his own remarkable history, and observed the gracious hand of God in it all."

This particular Song of David is no exception to a general if not an invariable feature which marked all his inspired minstrelsy, in that we may see in it both a surface and a deeper allusion, both an historical and a prophetic significance. All doubt upon this point is definitely removed by the testimony of the New Testament, for there we find two of its verses quoted From as being the very words of Christ Himself, thus making it plain that a greater than David is here. In its deeper meaning it is the utterance of the Spirit of Christ in David, making special reference to His triumph over death by the mighty power of God (Eph. 1:19). David thankfully recounts the glorious actings of God on his behalf, yet in such language as rises above himself, to his Son and Lord, against whom all the powers of darkness were concentrated.

"And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul" (2 Sam. 22:1). One of the outstanding features of the checkered career of David was the large number of his foes, both from the surrounding nations and among his own people, the chief of all being Saul—the most formidable, malicious and inveterate. Nor should this unduly surprise us, even though, as Matthew Henry tersely expressed it. "David was a man after God’s heart, but not after man’s heart: many were those who hated him." Why was this? First, God so ordered it that he might be an eminent type of Christ, who, throughout the ages has been "despised and rejected of men." Second. that thereby God might display the more conspicuously His faithfulness and power in preserving His own. Third, because this is generally the experience of the saints.

"And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul." Therefore was he well qualified experimentally to declare, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all" (Ps. 34:19). The Lord’s "deliverance" of David from his many foes assumed a great variety of forms: sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, for the Almighty is not limited to any particular means or method. On occasions He employs human instruments; and again, He wrought without them. Let this encourage the tried and Satan-harassed believer. Though every avenue of escape seem fast shut to your eyes, yet remember that closed doors are no barrier to the Lord (John 20:26). When the long drought completely dried up the water which sustained Elijah at Cherith, God maintained him with oil at Zarephath.

This too is written for our learning and comfort. As we have traced the life of David through the two hooks of Samuel, we have seen him in some sore straits: again and again it looked as though his foes must surely prevail against him; yea, on one occasion, he himself dolefully declared, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul" (1 Sam. 27:1). Yet he did not! No, One infinitely mightier than Saul was watching over him. And this is equally the case with you and me, dear

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reader, if we belong to Christ: the combined forces of hell shall never prevail against us; the united assaults of the flesh, the world and the devil cannot destroy us. Why? "Because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Then why should we be so fearful? let us seek grace to rest on that sure promise, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1).

Observe well David’s response to these divine interpositions on his behalf: deliverance calls for thanksgiving. This is the very least we can render unto the Lord in return for all His benefits. Nor should there be any tardiness in discharging this delightful obligation: gratitude must issue promptly in praise. it did so with the sweet singer in Israel, and it should also with us. Then let us take to heart this word, "And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the

day that the Lord had delivered him." We ought to present unto God a sacrifice of praise while His mercies are fresh and the heart is duly affected by them. We are not slow in crying to God when imminent danger threatens us: then let us be just as prompt in acknowledging His goodness when His delivering hand is extended to us.

Many of the commentators are of the opinion that this sacred song was composed by David at an early date in his life, but personally we fail to sec anything in the Scriptures which supports such a view. The very fact that the Holy Spirit has expressly told us it was uttered by David when "The Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies," is surely a plain intimation that it was uttered by him late in life—the added words "and out of the hand of Saul" do not modify this view when the mention of him is regarded as being intended for the purpose of emphasis, he being his predominant foe. The main divisions of the Song are fairly clearly defined. First, is the preface, in which David is occupied with extolling Jehovah’s perfections: verses 1-4. Second, he magnifies the Lord for His delivering mercies: verses 5-20. Third, he expresses the testimony of a clear conscience: verses 21-28. Fourth, he concludes with a prophetic anticipation of the glorious triumphs of the Messiah: verses 29-45.

"And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer" (v. 2). David begins by adoring Jehovah. He does so on the ground of his personal relation to Him, for all the benefits he had received, he bases upon his relation to God. Observe that in verses 2 and 3, he uses the personal pronoun no less than nine times. It is a grand thing when we have the assurance and can feelingly say, "The Lord is my Rock." While our enemies are hot upon our heels wounding us sorely, threatening our very life, we sometimes do not have this blessed assurance; but when God’s delivering grace is experienced afresh by us, new hope is kindled in the soul. "The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress." "Dwelling among the crags and mountain fastnesses of Judea, David had escaped the malice of Saul, and here compares his God to such a place of concealment and security. Believers are often hidden in their God from the strife of tongues and the fury of the storm" (C. H. Spurgeon).

"And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer." Let us not miss the connection between this and the preceding verse: they that trust God in the path of duty, will ever find Him a very present help in the greatest of dangers. And David had trusted God, with a faith which wrought miracles.

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Recall, for example, his intrepidity in Facing Goliath. All Israel were afraid of the Philistine giant, so that none—not even Saul—dared to accept his haughty challenge. Yet David, though then but a youth, hesitated not to engage him in mortal combat, going forth to meet him without any material armor, and with naught but a sling in his hand. And wherein lay his strength? What was the secret of his courage and of his success? It was at once revealed in the words with which he met the enemy’s champion: "thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel" (1 Sam. 17:45)!

And is that, my reader, nothing more than a striking incident of ancient history? Has it no message for our hearts? Is not God the same today: ready to respond to a faith that dares! Is it not written "if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23)? Do we really believe this? If so, are we earnestly begging God to increase our faith? Faith is invincible, because it lays hold of One who is omnipotent. Faith is the hand which grasps the Almighty, and is anything too hard for Him! Is it not also written "according unto your Faith be it unto you" (Matthew 9:29). Ah, does not that explain why it is we so often meet with defeat, why it is that our enemies prevail against us? O for faith in the living God, faith in the efficacy of Christ’s mediation, to vanquish our lusts.

Yes, most important is it that we should heed the connection between the first two verses of our chapter: the deliverances David had from his enemies, and his implicit confidence in God. Nor was he by any means alone in this experience. It was by the miracle-working power of God that the three Hebrews were delivered from Babylon’s fiery furnace. Yes, but that divine power was put forth in response to their faith: "our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king" (Dan. 3:17). So again with Daniel himself, yet how often this particular is overlooked. From early childhood most of us have been familiar with that divine marvel which preserved the prophet from the lions, but how many of us have noticed those words, "So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God" (6:23).

"And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer" (v. 2). When almost captured, the Lord’s people are rescued from the hand of the mighty by One who is mightier still. God never fails those who really exercise faith in Him: He may indeed severely test, but He will not suffer them to be "utterly cast down." As our "Rock" God is the strength and support of His people, the One on whom they build their hopes, the One who affords shade from the burning heat of the desert. As our "Fortress" God gives His people shelter from their assailants, supplying protection and security—"The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe" (Prov. 18:10). As our "Deliverer" God saves us from ourselves, redeems us from the damning power of sin, rescues us from the roaring lion, secures us against the second death.

"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" (v. 3). This piling up of metaphors indicates the strong assurance which David had in the Lord, the realization of His sufficiency to meet his every

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emergency and supply his every need. He saw in God one who was infinitely worthy of his fullest confidence: no matter how critical his circumstances, how desperate his situation, how numerous or powerful his foes, and how great his own weakness, Jehovah was all-sufficient. Such too ought to be our confidence in God. Yea, we have more ground to rest our faith upon than ever David had. God is now revealed as the (penitent) sinner’s Friend, as He never was then. In Christ He is revealed as the Conqueror of sin, the Vanquisher of death, the Master of Satan. Then have we not cause to exclaim in Him will I trust." O that this may become more and more of an actuality in the lives of both writer and reader.

"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." These energetic figures of speech, which rise above the level of ordinary prose, reveal what God is to His believing people, for only as faith is lively and vigorous is He viewed thus. He is "my Shield" with which to ward off every attack: faith interposes Him between our souls and the enemy. He is "the Horn of my salvation," enabling me to push down my foes, and to triumph over them with holy exultation. He is "my high Tower": a citadel placed upon a high eminence, beyond the reach of all enemies, from which I may look down on them without alarm. He is "my Refuge" in which to shelter from every storm. He is "my Saviour" from every evil to which the believer is exposed. What more do we need! what more can we ask! O for faith’s realization of the same in our souls. "Thou savest me from violence": again we would press the point that this is in response to faith—"He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him" (Ps. 37:40).

"I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies" (v. 4). As an unknown writer has said, "The armour of a soldier does him no service except he put it on; so, no protection from God is to be expected, unless we apply ourselves to prayer." It is faith which girds on the spiritual armor; it is faith which finds all its resource in the Lord. "I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies": note carefully the words which we have placed in italics. This affords abundant confirmation of all we have said above: to "call upon the Lord" is to exercise faith in Him, such faith as praises Him before the victory—So shall we be saved from our enemies: by God’s mighty power in response to believing prayer and sincere praise.

PINKAs pointed out in our last, the main divisions of David’s sacred song in 2 Samuel 22 are more or less clearly marked. In the first (vv. 1-4) he is occupied with extolling Jehovah’s perfections: this section we have already considered. In the second (vv. 5-20), which is now to be before us, he magnifies the Lord for His delivering mercies. The section of the song is couched in highly figurative and poetic language; which indicates how deeply stirred were the emotions of its inspired composer. Its contents may be regarded in a threefold way. First, as depicting the physical dangers to which David was exposed from his human foes. Second, the deep soul distress which he experienced from his spiritual enemies. Third, the fearful sufferings through which Christ passed while acting as the Substitute of His people, and the awe-inspiring deliverance which God wrought for His servant. We will endeavor to consider our passage from each of these

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viewpoints."When the waves (pangs) of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; the sorrows (cords) of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented (anticipated) me" (2 Sam. 22:5, 6). Thus opens this second division: that which it so vividly portrayed is the large number and ferocity of his enemies, and the desperate danger to which David was exposed by them. First, he employed the figure of an angry sea, whose raging waves menaced him from every side, until his frail craft was in immediate prospect of being swamped by them. Next, he likened his lot to one who was marooned on some piece of low-lying ground, and the floods rapidly rising higher and higher, till his destruction seemed certain. The multitude of the wicked pressed him sorely on every side. Then he compared his plight to one who had already been taken captive and bound, so that the very cords of death seemed to be upon him. Finally, he pictures his case as a bird that had been caught in the fowler’s snare, unable to fly away.

The above references were to the attempts made by Saul, Abner and Absalom to capture and slay David. So fierce were their attacks, so powerful the forces they employed against him, so determined and relentless were his foes, that David here acknowledged they "made me afraid." "The most sea-worthy bark is sometimes hard put to it when the storm Hood is abroad. The most courageous man, who as a rule hopes for the best, may sometimes fear the worst" (C. H. Spurgeon). Strong as his faith generally was, yet on one occasion unbelief prevailed to such an extent that David said, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul" (1 Sam. 27:1). When terrors from without awaken fears within, our case is indeed a miserable one: yet so it was with Moses when he fled from Egypt, with Elijah when he ran away from Jezebel, with Peter when he denied his Lord.

But these lamentations of David are also to be construed spiritually: they are to be regarded as those harrowing exercises of soul through which he passed in his later years: Psalms 32 and 51 cast light upon them. "The sorrows (cords) of Hell compassed me about; the snares of death anticipated me": such was the anguish of his soul under the lashings of a guilty conscience. "The temptations of Satan and the consciousness of his sins filled him with fears of wrath and dreadful apprehensions of future consequences. He felt like a malefactor bound for execution, whose fetters prevent him from attempting an escape, for whose body the grave hath certainly opened her mouth, and who is horribly alarmed lest the pit of bell should swallow up his soul" (Thomas Scott). Fearful beyond words is the suffering through which many a backslider has to pass ere he is restored to fellowship with God—one who has experienced it will not deem the language of these verses any too strong.

But there is something deeper here than the trials David encountered either from without or within: in their ultimate sense these verses articulate the groanings of the Man of sorrows as He took upon Him the obligations and suffered in the stead of His people. As we pointed out in our last, two of the verses of this song are quoted in the New Testament as being the very words of Christ Himself: "In Him will I trust" (v. 3) is found in Hebrews 2:13, and "I will give thanks unto Thee O Lord, among the heathen (Gentiles), and I will sing praises unto Thy name" (v. 50) is found in Romans 15:9. "The Messiah our Saviour is evidently,

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over and beyond David or any other believer, the main and chief subject of this Song; and while studying it we have grown more and more sure that every line has its deeper and profounder fulfillment in Him" (C. H. Spurgeon). Let this be kept before us as we pass from section to section, and from verse to verse.

"When the waves (pangs) of death compassed Me, the floods of ungodly men made Me afraid; the sorrows (cords) of hell compassed Me about; the snares of death prevented (anticipated) Me." Here was the Spirit of Christ speaking prophetically through the Psalmist, expressing the fierce conflict through which the Redeemer passed. Behold Him in Gethsemane, in the judgment-halls of Herod and Pilate, and then behold Him on the Cross itself, suffering horrible torments of body and anguish of soul, when He was delivered into the hands of wicked men, encountered the fierce assaults of Satan, and endured the wrath of God against Him for our sins. It was then that He was surrounded by the insulting priests and people. His "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Matthew 26:38) was but an echo of these words of David’s song.

"In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears" (v. 7). Here we behold God’s suffering servant making earnest supplication to heaven. The one so sorely pressed by his enemies that the eye of sense could perceive not a single avenue of escape, yea, when death itself immediately threatened him, seeks relief from above, and so it should be with us: "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray" (James 5:13). Ah, it is then he is most likely to really pray: cold and formal petitions do not suit one who is in deep trouble—alas that so often nothing short of painful trial will force fervent supplications from us. An old writer expressed it, "Prayer is not eloquence, but earnestness; not the definition of earnestness, but the feeling of it; it is the cry of faith in the ear of mercy": yet either pangs of body or of soul are usually needed before we will cry out in reality.

"In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears" (v. 7). So many neglect prayer when they are quiet and at ease, but as the Lord declares, "In their affliction they will seek Me early" (Hosea 5:15). Yet it is well if we do seek unto God in our affliction, instead of sulking in rebellion, which is to forsake our own mercy. The Lord is a very present help in trouble, and it is our holy privilege to prove this for ourselves. The Hebrew word for "cried" here is an expressive one, signifying such a cry as issues from one in a violent tempest of emotion, in the extremity of grief and anxiety: in fact Alexander Maclaren renders it "shriek." David was all but sinking and could only give vent to an agonized call or help.

"Prayer is that postern gate which is left open even when the city is straightly 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. Observe that he ‘calls,’ and then ‘cries’; prayer grows in vehemence as it proceeds. Note also that he first invokes his God under the name of Jehovah, and then advances to a more familiar name, ‘my God’: thus faith increases by exercise, and he whom we at first viewed as Lord is soon seen to be our God in covenant. It is never an ill time to pray: no distress should prevent us from using the divine remedy of supplication" (C. H. Spurgeon).

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"In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God." The fulfillment of these prophetic words in the case of out suffering Redeemer is well known to all who are acquainted with the four Gospels. Blessed indeed is it to behold that One, who was supremely the Man after God’s own heart, betaking Himself to prayer while His enemies were thirsting for His blood. The deeper His distress, the more earnestly did He call upon God, both in Gethsemane and at Calvary, and as Hebrews 5:7 tells us, "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared." Let us not hesitate, then, to follow the example which He has left us, and no matter how hardly we are pressed, how desperate be our situation, nor how acute our grief, let us unburden ourselves to God.

"And he did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears." This is in explanation of all that follows: the gracious interpositions of the Lord on David’s behalf and the wondrous deliverances He wrought for him, were in answer to prayer. God’s lending a willing ear to the cry of His distressed child is recorded for our encouragement. It is indeed deplorable that we are often so prayerless until pressure of circumstances force supplication out of us, yet it is blessed to be assured that God does not then (as well He might) turn a deaf ear unto our calls; nay, such calls have the greater prevalency, because of their sincerity and because they make a more powerful appeal unto the divine pity. Let the fearing and despondent believer read through Psalm 107 and mark how frequently it is recorded that the redeemed "cry unto the Lord in their trouble," and how that in each instance we are told "He delivered them" Then do you cry unto Him, and be of good courage.

"Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because He was wroth" (v. 8). David’s prayer was answered in a most effectual manner by the providential interpositions which Jehovah made on his behalf. In a most singular and extraordinary way the Lord appeared for his relief, fighting for him against his enemies. Here again David adorned his poem with lively images as he recorded God’s gracious intervention. The mighty power of God was now exercised for him: such language being employed as to intimate that nothing can resist or impede Him when He acts for His own. God was now showing Himself to be strong on behalf of His oppressed but supplicating servant. See here, dear reader, the response of heaven to the cry of faith. "Then the earth shook and trembled": let these words be pondered in the light of "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed . . . and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed" (Acts 16:25,26)!

Again we would remind the reader that a greater than David is to be kept before us as we pass from verse to verse of this Psalm. "Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because He was wroth:" who can fail to be reminded of the supernatural phenomena which attended the death and resurrection of David’s Son and Lord? He too had called upon Jehovah in His deep distress, "And was heard" (Heb. 5:7). Unmistakable was heaven’s response: "from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour . . . Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top

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to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened" (Matthew 27:45, 50-52). Yes, the earth literally "shook and trembled"! As another has rightly said, "Tremendous was the scene! Never before and never since was such a battle fought, or such a victory gained, whether we look at the contending powers or the consequences resulting Heaven on the one side, and hell on the other: such were the contending powers. And as to the consequences resulting, who shall recount them?"

"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" (vv. 9, 10). These expressions are borrowed from the awe-inspiring phenomena which attended the appearing of Jehovah upon mount Sinai: compare Exodus 19:16-18. It was Jehovah the Avenger appearing to vindicate His servant and vanquish his enemies. David considered that in his case the Lord God manifested the same divine perfections which He had displayed of old at the giving of the Law. We cannot do better here than quote from Matthew Henry’s comments on the spiritual significance of the vivid imagery which was here employed by the Psalmist.

"These lofty metaphors are used. First, to set forth the glory of God, which was manifested in his deliverance: His wisdom and power, His goodness and faithfulness, His justice and holiness, and His sovereign dominion over all the creatures and all the counsels of men, which appeared in favour of David, were as clear and bright a discovery of God’s glory to an eye of faith, as those would have been to an eye of sense. Second, to set forth God’s displeasure against his enemies: God so espoused his cause, that he showed Himself an Enemy to all his enemies; His anger is set forth by a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth. Who knows the power and terror of His wrath! Third, to set forth the vast confusion which his enemies were put into and the consternation that seized them; as if the earth had trembled and the foundations of the world had been discovered. Who can stand before God, when He is angry? Fourth, to show how ready God was to help him: He ‘rode upon a cherub, and did fly’ (v.11). God hastened to his succour, and came in to him with seasonable relief."

"And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and He was seen upon the wings of the wind" (v. 11). Though the Lord "wait that He may be gracious" (Isa. 30:18), and sometimes sorely tries faith and patience, yet when His appointed time comes, He acts swiftly. "And He made darkness pavilions round about Him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies" (v. 12): just as that pillar of fire which gave light to Israel was "a cloud and darkness" to the Egyptians (Ex. 14:20), so were the providential dealings of the Lord unto the enemies of David. The One who is pleased to reveal Himself unto His own, conceals Himself from the wicked, and hence the fearful portion of those who shall be everlastingly banished from the presence of the Lord is represented as "the blackness of darkness forever."

"Through the brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. And He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them. And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils"(vv. 13-16). All of this is an amplification of "because He was wroth" (v. 8). Nothing so arouses

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Jehovah’s indignation as injuries done to His people: he who attacks them, touches the apple of His eye. True, God is not subject to those passions which govern His creatures, yet because He hates sin with a perfect hatred and sorely punishes it, He is often represented under such poetic imagery as is suited to human understanding. God is a God to be feared, as those who now trifle with Him shall yet discover. How shall puny men be able to face it out with the Almighty, when the very mountains tremble at His presence! Satan-deluded souls may now defy Him, but their false confidence will not support or shelter them in the dread day of His wrath.

"He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters; He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me" (vv. 17, 18). Here is the happy issue to David’s prayer and the Lord’s response. Observe, first, that David gives God the glory by unreservedly ascribing his deliverance unto Him He looked far above his own skill in slinging the stone which downed Goliath and his cleverness in eluding Saul: "He sent . . . He took me, He drew me . . . He delivered me" gives all the honor unto Him to whom it was truly due. Note, second, the particular reason mentioned by David as to why the Lord had intervened on his behalf: "for they were too strong for me"—it was his confessed weakness and the strength of his foes that made such a powerful appeal to God’s pity: compare the effectual plea of Jehoshaphat: "O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us" (2 Chron. 20:12). Finally, while the "strong enemy" of verse 18 is an allusion to either Goliath or Saul, yet David’s deliverance from them but prefigured Christ’s victory over death and Satan, and here He ascribed that victory unto His God.

EXPOSITORS BIBLE COMMENTARY, "THE SONG OF THANKSGIVING.

2 Samuel 22:1-5.

SOME of David's actions are very characteristic of himself; there are other actions quite out of harmony with his character. This psalm of thanksgiving belongs to the former order. It is quite like David; at the conclusion of his military enterprises, to cast his eye gratefully over the whole, and acknowledge the goodness and mercy that had followed him all along. Unlike many, he was as careful to thank God for mercies past and present as to entreat Him for mercies to come. The whole Book of Psalms resounds with halleluiahs, especially the closing part. In the song before us we have something like a grand halleluiah, in which thanks are given for all the deliverances and mercies of the past, and unbounded confidence expressed in God's mercy and goodness for the time to come.

The date of this song is not to be determined by the place which it occupies in the history. We have already seen that the last few chapters of Samuel consist of supplementary narratives, not introduced at their regular places, but needful to

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give completeness to the history. It is likely that this psalm was written considerably before the end of David's reign. Two considerations make it all but certain that its date is earlier than Absalom's rebellion. In the first place, the mention of the name of Saul in the first verse - "in the day when God delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul" - would seem to imply that the deliverance from Saul was somewhat recent, certainly not so remote as it would have been at the end of David's reign. And secondly, while the affirmation of David's sincerity and honesty in serving God might doubtless have been made at any period of his life, yet some of his expressions would not have been likely to be used after his deplorable fall. It is not likely that after that, he would have spoken, for example, of the cleanness of his hands, stained as they had been by wickedness that could hardly have been surpassed. On the whole, it seems most likely that the psalm was written about the time referred to in 2 Samuel 7:1 - ''when the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies round about." This was the time when it was in his heart to build the temple, and we know from that and other circumstances that he was then in a state of overflowing thankfulness.

Besides the introduction, the song consists of three leading parts not very definitely separated from each other, but sufficiently marked to form a convenient division, as follows:

I. Introduction: the leading thought of the song, an adoring acknowledgment of what God had been and was to David (2 Samuel 22:2-4).

II. A narrative of the Divine interpositions on his behalf, embracing his dangers, his prayers, and the Divine deliverances in reply (2 Samuel 22:5-19).

III. The grounds of his protection and success (2 Samuel 22:20-30).

IV. References to particular acts of God's goodness in various parts of his life, interspersed with reflections on the Divine character, from all which the assurance is drawn that that goodness would be continued to him and his successors, and would secure through coming ages the welfare and extension of the kingdom. And here we observe what is so common in the Psalms: a gradual rising above the idea of a mere earthly kingdom; the type passes into the antitype; the kingdom of David melts, as in a dissolving view, into the kingdom of the Messiah; thus a more elevated tone is given to the song, and the assurance is conveyed to every believer that as God protected David and his kingdom, so shall He protect and glorify the kingdom of His Son forever.

I. In the burst of adoring gratitude with which the psalm opens as its leading thought, we mark David's recognition of Jehovah as the source of all the protection, deliverance, and success he had ever enjoyed, along with a special

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assertion of closest relationship to Him, in the frequent use of the word ''my," and a very ardent acknowledgment of the claim to his gratitude thus arising -"God, who is worthy to be praised."

The feeling that recognized God as the Author of all his deliverances was intensely strong, for every expression that can denote it is heaped together: "My rock, my portion, my deliverer; the God of my rock, my shield; the horn of my salvation, my high tower, my refuge, my Saviour." He takes no credit to himself; he gives no glory to his captains; the glory is all the Lord's. He sees God so supremely the Author of his deliverance that the human instruments that helped him are for the moment quite out of view. He who, in the depths of his penitence, sees but one supremely injured Being, and says, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned," at the height of his prosperity sees but one gracious Being, and adores Him, who only is his rock and his salvation. In an age when all the stress is apt to be laid on the human instruments, and God left out of view, this habit of mind is instructive and refreshing. It was a touching incident in English history when, after the battle of Agincourt, Henry V. of England directed the hundred and fifteenth Psalm to be sung; prostrating himself on the ground, and causing his whole army to do the same, when the words were sounded out, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Thy name give glory."

The emphatic use of the pronoun "my" by the Psalmist is very instructive. It is so easy to speak in general terms of what God is, and what God does; but it is quite another thing to be able to appropriate Him as ours, and rejoice in that relation. Luther said of the twenty-third Psalm that the word '"my" in the first verse was the very hinge of the whole. There is a whole world of difference between the two expressions, "The Lord is a Shepherd" and "The Lord is my Shepherd." The use of the "my" indicates a personal transaction, a covenant relation into which the parties have solemnly entered. No man is entitled to use this expression who has merely a reverential feeling towards God, and respect for His will. You must have come to God as a sinner, owning and feeling your unworthiness, and casting yourself on His grace. You must have transacted with God in the spirit of His exhortation, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will be a Father unto you; and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

One other point has to be noticed in this introduction - when David comes to express his dependence on God, he very specially sets Him before his mind as "worthy to be praised." He calls to mind the gracious character of God, - not an austere God, reaping where He has not sown, and gathering where He has not strawed, but ''the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth." ''This doctrine," says Luther, "is in tribulation the most ennobling and truly golden. One cannot imagine what assistance such praise of God is in pressing danger. For as soon as you begin to praise God the sense of the evil will also begin to abate, the comfort of your heart will grow; and then God will be called on with confidence. There are some who cry to the Lord and are not heard. Why is this? Because they do not praise the

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Lord when they cry to Him, but go to Him with reluctance; they have not represented to themselves how sweet the Lord is, but have looked only to their own bitterness. But no one gets deliverance from evil by looking simply upon his evil and becoming alarmed at it; he can get deliverance only by rising above his evil, hanging it on God, and having respect to His goodness. Oh, hard counsel, doubtless, and a rare thing truly, in the midst of trouble to conceive of God as sweet, and worthy to be praised; and when He has removed Himself from us and is incomprehensible, even then to regard Him more intensely than we regard our misfortune that keeps us from Him I Only let one try it, and make the endeavour to praise God, though in little heart for it he will soon experience an enlightenment."

HAWKER, "The prosecution of David's history is interrupted through the whole of this Chapter, in order to introduce his Song, or Psalm of praise. It is not said when David wrote it; but it is said when he spake it, for the title of it expresses that it was when the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and particularly out of the hand of Saul. It contains therefore, from beginning to end, manifold praises for manifold deliverances.

2 Samuel 22:1

(1) ¶ And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

We have this same Psalm, only with suitable variations, among the collection of David's Psalms, Psalms 18:1-50th in number. In that collection, this first verse forms the title page to what follows. There is a great beauty, as well as a great expression of devotion, in what is here said-in the day meaning, that David suffered not the impression of the LORD's goodness to cool upon his mind, but while the fire of grace, which the LORD had kindled, burned within him, his soul went forth in the sacrifice of praise and love, to the great Author of his mercies, upon the Altar which sanctifieth the gift, even JESUS.

LANGE, "This song of praise and thanksgiving is (a few deviations excepted, which will be examined in the exposition) identical with Psalm 18. The superscription is substantially the same in the two productions. In the Psalm the opening words: “to the precentor, by the servant of Jehovah, by David,” are like the title of Psalm 36; then follows (in the form of a relative sentence: “who spake to Jehovah”) the historical introduction in the same words as in 2 Samuel 22:1 of our chapter (except only that the second “hand” is given by different words): “And David spake to the Lord the words of this Song of Solomon,” etc. The Davidic origin of the Song of Solomon, which is universally recognized (except by Olshausen and Hupfeld) is thus doubly attested. The redactor of our Books regards this as equally indubitable as in the other sayings and poems attributed

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to David, 2 Samuel 3:33-34; 2 Samuel 5:8; 2 Samuel 7:18-29; 2 Samuel 23:1-7. The high antiquity of the song is favored by its use in Psalm 116, 144, and the quotation of 2 Samuel 22:31 in Proverbs 30:5, and of 2 Samuel 22:34 in Hab. iii19; and especially the early recognition of its Davidic origin is shown by the fact that the author of the Books of Samuel found the superscription, which ascribes the song to David, already in the historical authority whence he took the narrative (comp. Hitzig on Psalm, I:95 sqq.). The source, whence Psalm 18 also with its identical historical introduction was taken into the psalter (since it was evidently not taken from 2 Sam.) is doubtless one of the theocratic-prophetic historical works; from which Sam. has drawn. See the Introduction, pp31–35. The content also of the song puts its genuineness beyond doubt. The victories that God has given the singer over internal and external enemies, so that he is now a mighty king, the individual characteristics, which agree perfectly with the Davidic Psalm, and especially the singer’s designation of himself by the name David ( 2 Samuel 22:51), compel us to regard the latter as the author. “Certainly,” says Hitzig, “this opinion will be derived from 2 Samuel 22:51. And rightly; for, if the song was not by David, it must have been composed in his name and into his soul; and who could this contemporary and equal poet be?”—On the position of the song in this connection midway among the sections of the concluding appendix, see Introduction, pp21–23. The insertion of the episodes from the Philistian wars ( 2 Samuel 21:15-22) gives the point of connection for the introduction of this song of victory, which David sang in triumph over his external enemies. And the reference at the close of this song ( 2 Samuel 22:51) to the promise of the everlasting kingdom ( 2 Samuel 7:12-16; 2 Samuel 7:26; 2 Samuel 7:29), which David now sees is assured by his victories, has obviously given the redactor the point of connection for David’s last prophetic song ( 2 Samuel 23:1-7), wherein is celebrated the imperishable dominion of his house, founded on the covenant that the Lord has made with him. Noticeable also is the bond of connection between the two songs in the fact that David calls himself by name in 2 Samuel 22:51; 2 Samuel 23:1 just as in 2 Samuel 7:20.—The time of composition (the reference in 2 Samuel 22:51 to 2 Samuel7 being unmistakable) cannot be before the date when David, on the ground of the promise given him through Nathan, could be sure that his dominion despite all opposition was immovable, and that the throne of Israel would remain forever with his house. The words of the title: “in the day when the Lord had saved him from the hand of all his enemies” agree with the description of victories in 2 Samuel 22:29-46, and point to a time when David had established his kingdom by war, and forced heathen princes to do homage (comp. 2 Samuel 22:44-49). But, as God’s victorious help against external enemies is celebrated in the second part of the Song of Solomon, and the joyous tone of exultation shows that David’s heart is taken up with the gloriousness of that help, it is a fair assumption that the song was written not after the turmoil of Absalom’s conspiracy and the succeeding events (Keil), but immediately after the victorious wars narrated in chaps8,10. 2 Samuel 22:44-45 may without violence be referred (Hitzig) to the fact related in 2 Samuel 8:9 sqq, that Toi, king of Hamath, presented his homage to David through his son Joram. So the reference to 2 Samuel 8:6, where the Syrians are said to have been conquered and brought gifts, is obvious. The conviction of the theocratic narrator (as expressed in the repeated remark, 2 Samuel 8:6, 2 Samuel 14 : “the Lord helped David, wherever he went”) that David had the Lord’s

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special help in these wars with Syria and Edom, accords with the free, joyous praise of the Lord’s help in our song. The song was therefore very probably produced after the victories over the Syrians and Edomites, which were epoch-making for the establishment and extension of David’s authority. David composed it doubtless at the glorious end of this war, looking at the same time at God’s mercies to him in the early period of the Sauline persecution, and the internal wars with Saul’s adherents ( 2 Samuel 2:8 to 2 Samuel 4:12), and making these subject-matter of praise and thanks to the Lord. The poet’s imagination, in its contemplation of the two principal periods of war, moves backwards, presenting first the external wars, which were the nearest, and then the internal, with Saul and his house. The designation of time “in the day” (i.e., at the time, as in Genesis 2:4 and elsewhere) “when the Lord had saved him from the hand of Saul,” points to the moment of David’s victory over all his enemies, when he could breathe freely and praise God.[FN1]—The form of the superscription is similar to that of the superscriptions of the songs that are inserted in the history in Exodus 15:1; Numbers 21:17; Deuteronomy 31:30. In Psalm 18, as here, the song is introduced with the words: “and he said.”

PULPIT, "Verses 1-51

EXPOSITION

DAVID'S PSALM OF THANKSGIVING.

This song, which is identical with Psalms 18:1-50; though with many verbal differences, is so universally acknowledged as a genuine composition of King David, that the objections taken by one or two critics serve only to give us greater security by reminding us that the other side has been carefully argued. The differences between its form here and in the Book of Psalms suggest many important considerations with regard to textual criticism. From the absence of manuscripts, we have very scanty means of judging of the correctness of the ordinary Hebrew text. We have, indeed, abundant proof that the Jews took extreme care of their sacred text in the early centuries of our era; but we nevertheless find, most frequently in names, mistakes which have arisen from the carelessness of scribes, and especially from the confusion by them of similar letters. Thus the Sibbechai of 2 Samuel 21:18 becomes Mebunnai in 2 Samuel 23:27, owing to some scribe having mistaken two letters in the name. And as the similarity between them exists, not in the old Hebrew writing, but in the square character substituted after the exile, the confusion must be subsequent to that date. In comparing the two texts of this psalm, we find similar instances of confusion of letters in 2 Samuel 23:11, 42, 43; we find words transposed in 2 Samuel 23:5, 2 Samuel 23:6; and clauses repeated or omitted in 2 Samuel 23:13, 2 Samuel 23:14. In short, all the phenomena with which we are familiar in the textual criticism of the New Testament are also found here. And may we not add that they end in the same result? The general sense and meaning remain much the same. The variations of reading do not affect the teaching of Holy Scripture on any important point. It may be asked, then—Why should we notice them at

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all? And why urge them upon the attention of scholars? The answer is that there exist flaws and blemishes in the Massoretic, that is, the ordinary Hebrew, text, and that the removal of them is prevented by the strange idea which accords infallibility to the Massorites, and will not concede to the far more difficult problem of the ancient Hebrew text that which is granted as a matter of course to the comparatively modern Greek text of the New Testament. And thus the Old Testament is neglected, and left outside that careful and minute study so lavishly expended on the New, and so rich in useful results.

Of the date when David wrote this psalm there can be little doubt. It was at the close of his first great series of victories, after Toi, the Hittite King of Hamath, had sent to him an embassy of congratulation (2 Samuel 8:9, 2 Samuel 8:10), referred to very triumphantly in verses 45, 46. But there is no trace in it of the sorrow and shame that clouded over his latter days; and no man whose conscience was stained with sins so dark as those of adultery and murder could have written words so strongly asserting his integrity and the cleanness of his hands as are found in 2 Samuel 23:21-25. The psalm belongs to David's happiest time, when he had won for Israel security and empire. It is written from first to last in a tone of jubilant exultation, caused, as we may well believe, by Nathan's acceptance of his purpose to build the temple, and by the solemn appointment of David as the theocratic king. If it were arranged according to time and matter, it would be placed immediately after 2 Samuel 8:1-18; as it is evidently David's thanksgiving for the benefits and blessings just promised to him and his seed.

But the scribes inserted it here, not so much because of its historical value, as because it is a national thanksgiving for the founding of that empire by which Israel became verily the theocratic people, and the type upon earth of the kingdom of the Messiah. The prophet who compiled the Books of Samuel rejoiced in David's victories, not because they gave Israel worldly dominion, but because they were a fulfilment of past prophecy, and a necessary part of the preparation for the religious position which Israel was to hold. Such as it had been under the judges, Israel would have been no fit home for the prophetic light. It could not have grown and developed, nor the race have become a Church fit to be the teacher of all mankind. And in this hymn the Church expresses her joy at the high office and extended usefulness to which God has seen fit to call her. The spiritual exposition of the psalm will naturally be sought in commentaries on the Book of Psalms. But such matters as its outward form, and the differences between the two texts, will not be out of place here.

2 Samuel 22:1

David spake. The introduction was probably written by the prophet who compiled the Books of Samuel. The scribe who collected the Book of Psalms would be a priest, and he has repeated it with one or two additions, the most important of which is that the psalm was written "by David the servant of Jehovah." This title; meaning the minister or vicegerent of Jehovah, is one so

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high that it would certainly not have been given to David in his lifetime; nor was it even until Moses was dead that he was honoured with this rank (Deuteronomy 34:5). But what was David's right to this title, which put him on a level with Moses? It was this: In adding to the sacrificial ritual enacted by Moses a daily service in the temple of sacred minstrelsy and songs, David was acting with higher powers than were ever exercised by any other person. For though, as we have seen, Samuel was the originator of these services in his schools, yet. there is a wide difference between private and public services; and David made his anthems part of the national liturgy. But it would only be when the halo of long use had gathered round his holy psalmody that David would be placed on in equality with Moses, and his authority a institute a new ritual for the nation be recognized.

2 He said:

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

BARNES, "From Jordan ... - The men of Israel only escorted David from Jordan to Gilgal, and there left him; but the men of Judah in a body went with him all the way to Jerusalem.

GILL, "So every man of Israel went up from after David,.... Those that met him on the road departed from him, and went no further with him:

and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; and made him their captain, who was the author of their mutiny and sedition:

but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan to Jerusalem: never left him, after they had conducted him over Jordan, until they had brought him safely to Jerusalem.

JAMISON, "from Jordan even to Jerusalem — The quarrel had broken out shortly after the crossing of the Jordan, between Judah and the other tribes, who withdrew; so that Judah was left nearly alone to conduct the king to the metropolis.

HAWKER, "(2) ¶ And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; (3) 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.

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Do observe how David is labouring for expressions to show forth the wonderful perfections of GOD, and that that GOD, with all his perfections, is his GOD in covenant. Oh! it is sweet when faith makes an appropriating right of all that GOD hath, and is, as our own, when, like the bee, the flowers are not only visited by her, and sipped in the present moment, but she brings home to her little hive constant store for every occasion. Reader! see to it, in your own experience, that this is your case. When you not only contemplate a GOD in CHRIST, as the rock, and fortress, and deliverer of his people; but faith can add to it, he is the GOD of my rock, and in him do I trust.

K&D, "2Sa_20:2

All the men of Israel responded to this call, and went up (to the mountains) away from David and after Sheba; but the men of Judah adhered to their king from the

Jordan to Jerusalem. The construction of �בק with ועד מן ... is a pregnant one: they

adhered to and followed him. The expression “from Jordan” does not prove that Sheba's rebellion broke out at the Jordan itself, and before David's arrival in Gilgal, but may be accounted for from the fact that the men of Judah had already fetched the king back across the Jordan.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:2-4. The prologue of the song. With an unusually great number of predicates, David out of his joyously thankful heart, praises the Lord for His many deliverances. The numerous designations of God in 2 Samuel 22:2-3 are the summary statement of what, as the song exhibits in detail, the Lord has been to him in all his trials. In 2 Samuel 22:4 the thankful testimony to the salvation that God (as above designated in 2 Samuel 22:2-3) has vouchsafed him, is set forth as the theme of the whole song. The opening words of Psalm 18 ( 2 Samuel 22:2 [ 2 Samuel 22:1]): “I love thee, O Lord, my strength,” are wanting in our passage. The originality of this introduction, which the Syriac [of 2 Samuel22] contains, and which “carries its own justification” (Thenius), is not to be doubted; it has here fallen out either “from illegible writing” (Thenius), or through mistake. “I deeply love[FN2] thee;” David’s deep love to his God is the fruit of God’s manifestations of love to him. Luther: “Thus he declareth his deepest love, that he delighteth in our Lord God; for he feeleth that his benefits are unspeakable, and from this exceeding great delight and love it cometh that He giveth him so many names, as in what followeth.” These words of Psalm 18:2 have occasioned the noble hymns:[FN3] “With all my heart, O Lord, I love Thee” (M. Schalling), and: “Thee will I love, my strength” (J. Scheffler).—The phrase: “my strength”[FN4] denotes not the inner power of heart received by David from God (Luther), but (as is shown by the following names of God, which all refer to outward help) the manifestations of the might of God amid the trials brought on him by enemies.—My rock and my fortress; the same designation is found in Psalm 31:4 [ Psalm 31:3] and Psalm 71:3. “My rock, properly cleft[FN5] of a rock, which gives concealment from enemies,=he who conceals me to save me. So in Psalm

42:10 [ Psalm 42:9] the strong God (אל),�is�called,�over�against�pressing�enemies,�“my�

rock.”—My�fortress,[FN6]�a�place�difficult�of�access�from�its�height�and�strength,�offering�

protection�against�ambush�and�attack,�a�watchtower.�The�natural�basis�for�these�figures�is�

found�in�the�frequent�rock-clefts�and�steep,�inaccessible�hills�of�Palestine.�Comp.�Judges�6:2;�

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Job�39:27-28;�Isaiah�33:16.�The�historical�basis�is�furnished�by�David’s�experiences�in�Saul’s�

time,�when�he�was�often�obliged�to�betake�himself�to�clefts�and�hills.�Comp.�1�Samuel�22:5;�

23:14,�19;�24:1,�23.—The�meaning�of�these�concrete�figures�is�indicated�in�the�added�

expression:�My�deliverer.�Böttcher�would�change�the�pointing�and�read:�“My�deliverance;”

[FN7]�but�there�is�no�good�ground�for�this,�either�in�the�occurrence�of�this�latter�word�in�

Psalm�55:9,�8]�and�Psalm�144:2,�or�in�the�abstract�expressions�of�2�Samuel�22:4�[�2�Samuel�

22:3].�Rather�the�indication�of�the�Lord’s�personal,�active�help�in�the�words�saviour�and�

savest,�favors�the�reading�“deliverer.”

PETT,�"2�Samuel�22:2-4

‘And�he�said:

“YHWH�is�my�rock,�and�my�fortress,�and�my�deliverer,�even�mine,

God,�my�rock,�in�him�will�I�take�refuge,

My�shield,�and�the�horn�of�my�salvation,�my�high�tower,�and�my�refuge,

My�saviour,�you�save�me�from�violence.

I�will�call�upon�YHWH,�who�is�worthy�to�be�praised,

So�will�I�be�saved�from�my�enemies.”

Note�how�these�verses�pile�one�description�on�another�as�David�seeks�to�express�the�

confidence�that�he�has�in�YHWH,�a�confidence�matured�by�bitter�experience.�YHWH�is�his�

Rock,�and�his�Fortress,�and�his�Deliverer,�yes,�‘even�mine’.�He�was�ever�conscious�of�how�

unworthy�he�was�that�YHWH�should�be�so�good�to�him.�The�emphasis�is�on�the�fact�that�he�is�

firmly�established�and�totally�safe.�He�is�founded�on�YHWH�as�his�Rock,�he�is�safe�in�

YHWH�as�his�heavenly�mountain�fortress,�and�he�looks�to�YHWH�as�his�own�personal�

Deliverer.�Furthermore�YHWH�is�the�Rock�in�which�he�finds�refuge,�is�his�Shield�and�

Protector,�and�is�the�One�Whose�mighty�strength�(horn)�constantly�saves�him.�He�is�his�High�

Tower�and�Refuge.�How�could�he�possibly�have�been�safer?

Note�also�the�emphasis�on�salvation.�‘Refuge’,�‘salvation’,�‘Saviour’,�‘save�me’,�‘so�will�I�be�

saved’.�His�whole�dependence�for�deliverance�is�in�his�God�who�saves�him�from�violence�and�

from�his�enemies�and�from�all�that�he�has�to�face.�That�is�why�He�is�worthy�to�be�praised.�The�

idea�underlines�the�whole�Psalm.

PULPIT�2-4,�"The�Syriac�in�2�Samuel�22:2�inserts,�"Fervently�do�I�love�thee,�Jehovah�my�

30

Strength;"�but�it�probably�only�borrows�the�words�from�Psalms�18:1.�For�we�may�well�believe�

that�it�was�at�a�later�period�of�his�life,�after�deeper�and�more�heart�searching�trials,�that�

David�thus�felt�his�love�to�Jehovah�only�strengthened�and�made�more�necessary�to�him�by�the�

loss�of�his�earthly�happiness.�In�Psalms�18:3,�The�God�of�my�rock�is�changed�in�Psalms�18:2�

into�"My�God�my�Rock"�(Authorized�Version,�"strength")—probably�an�intentional�

alteration,�as�being�far�less�rugged�and�startling�than�this�bold�metaphor�of�the�Deity�being�

his�rock's�God.�In�the�original�the�words�present�each�its�distinct�idea.�Thus�in�Psalms�18:2�the�

rock�is�a�high�cliff�or�precipice.�It�is�the�word�sela,�which�gave�its�name�to�the�crag�city�of�

Idumea.�Fortress�really�means�a�rock,�difficult�of�access,�and�forming�a�secure�retreat.�It�is�

entirely�a�natural�formation,�and�not�a�building.�In�Psalms�18:3�rock�is�a�vast�mountainous�

mass�(Job�18:4),�and,�as�it�suggests�the�ideas�of�grandeur�and�immovable�might,�it�is�often�

used�for�God's�glory�as�being�the�Strength�and�Protection�of�his�people.�Next�follow�two�

ordinary�metaphors,�the�shield�for�defence,�and�the�horn�for�attack;�after�which�David,�who�

had�so�often�sought�safety�among�the�cliffs�and�fastnesses�of�the�mountains,�returns�to�the�

same�circle�of�thoughts,�and�calls�God�his�High�Tower,�the�word�signifying,�not�a�building,�

but�a�height,�a�lofty�natural�stronghold;�and�finally�his�Refuge,�a�place�of�safe�retreat�among�

the�mountains.�This�and�the�rest�of�the�verse�are�omitted�in�Psalms�18:2.�In�Psalms�18:4�the�

words�are�as�literally�translated�above,�and�signify,�"Whenever�call,�I�am�saved."�In�all�times�of�

difficulty,�prayer�brings�immediate�deliverance.

3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior-from violent men you save me.

CLARKE, "The ten women - He could not well divorce them; he could not punish them, as they were not in the transgression; he could no more be familiar with them, because they had been defiled by his son; and to have married them to other men might have been dangerous to the state: therefore he shut them up and fed them - made them quite comfortable, and they continued as widows to their death.

GILL, "And David came to his house at Jerusalem,.... His palace there, which

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was in that part of the city called the fort of Zion, and city of David:

and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house; when he fled from Jerusalem because of Absalom, 2Sa_15:16,

and put them in ward; partly as a punishment for easily yielding to the lust of Absalom, and partly that they might not be seen, which would bring to remembrance his sin:

and fed them; he did not put them to death, nor put them away, but kept them thus confined, and made a proper provision for them, not suffering them to marry any other, and be maintained by them:

but went not in unto them: into their apartments to lie with them, having been defiled by his son, 2Sa_16:22,

so they were shut up unto the day of their death; kept in the ward till they died:

living in widowhood; neither used by the king as his concubines, as they had been before, nor suffered to many any other; or "in the widowhood of life" (o), which is so expressed, to distinguish it from widowhood made by death; this was such sort of widowhood as obtained while their husband was living; so the Targum,"widows of their husband alive,''

or remaining.

HENRY, "II. His concubines imprisoned for life, and he himself under a necessity of putting them in confinement, because they had been defiled by Absalom, 2Sa_20:3. David had multiplied wives, contrary to the law and they proved a grief and shame to him. Those whom he had sinfully taken pleasure in he was now, 1. Obliged, in duty, to put away, they being rendered unclean to him by the vile uncleanness his son had committed with them. Those whom he had loved must now be loathed. 2. Obliged, in prudence, to shut up in privacy, not to be seen abroad for shame, lest the sight of them should give occasion to people to speak of what Absalom had done to them, which ought not to be so much as named, 1Co_5:1. That that villany might be buried in obscurity. 3. Obliged, in justice to shut up in prison, to punish them for their easy submission to Absalom's lust, despairing perhaps of David's return, and giving him up for gone. Let none expect to do ill and fare well.

JAMISON, "the king took the ten women his concubines — Jewish writers say that the widowed queens of Hebrew monarchs were not allowed to marry again but were obliged to pass the rest of their lives in strict seclusion. David treated his concubines in the same manner after the outrage committed on them by Absalom. They were not divorced, for they were guiltless; but they were no longer publicly recognized as his wives; nor was their confinement to a sequestered life a very heavy doom, in a region where women have never been accustomed to go much abroad.

K&D, "2Sa_20:3

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As soon as David returned to his palace at Jerusalem, he brought the ten concubines whom he had left behind, and with whom Absalom had lain, into a place of safety, and took care of them, without going in unto them any more. The

masculine suffixes attached to יכל_לם ,י[גם, and אליהם are used, as they frequently are,

as being the more general and indefinite, instead of the feminine, which is the more definite form. Thus were they shut up in lifelong widowhood until the day of their

death. למנותg is an adverbial accusative, and ותhח signifies “condition in life;” literally,

in widowhood of life.

ELLICOTT,"(3) The God of my rock.—In the psalm, “My God, my rock” (margin). The two expressions of the psalm are here united in one, and the recurrence of the similar expression in 2 Samuel 22:47 (but not in the psalm) indicates that this was intentional.

And my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.—These words are omitted from the psalm, being compensated in part by the opening line there.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:3. God of my rock, of my house, my rock-God. Psalm 18:3 [ Psalm 18:2] has: “my strong God (אל), my rock;” these separated predicates are here united into one expression. The word “rock” (comp. stone in Genesis 49:24), denotes the firmness and unshakableness of God’s faithfulness, which is founded on the unchangeableness of His being (comp. Isaiah 26:4 sqq.) and gives assurance of unendangered, certain security. So in Deuteronomy 32:4; Deuteronomy 32:37 God is called the rock as the God of faithfulness, whom one securely builds on and trusts ( Psalm 92:16 [ Psalm 92:15]). Comp. 2 Samuel 22:47, where the name “rock-God” again occurs.—In whom I trust (the construction is relative). The “trust” as firm confidence answers to the rock-like firmness of the divine faithfulness, on which one may rely.—My shield, figure of covering against the attacks of enemies, protection against dangers. So in Genesis 15:1 God calls Himself Abraham’s shield, and in Deuteronomy 33:29 He is the shield of the help [=the saving shield] of Israel. The figure is frequent in the Psalm; see Psalm 3:4 [ Psalm 3:3]; Psalm 7:11, 10, Eng. A. V.: defence]; Psalm 28:7; Psalm 59:12 [ Psalm 59:11], and elsewhere.—And horn of my salvation, denotes God’s might and strength, which gives not only protection, but also help and salvation in the overcoming of enemies. The figure refers not to the horns of the altar (Hitzig, Moll), as if protection were the only thing involved, but to the horns of beasts, in which their strength is shown in the victorious repulse of an attack [or, in making an attack] (see 1 Samuel 2:1; 1 Samuel 2:10; Job 16:15; Psalm 75:5, 6, 11 [ Psalm 75:4-5; Psalm 75:10]; Psalm 89:18 [ Psalm 89:17]; Psalm 92:11 [ Psalm 92:10]; Psalm 112:9; Psalm 148:1). The Lord is not only protection against attacks, but also “a trusty shield and weapon” (“ein’ gute wehr und waffe”) for victoriously combating and repelling them. Comp. Deuteronomy 33:29, where the God of Israel is called the shield of their help and the sword of their excellency. The reference of the “horn” to a mountain-peak has small support from Isaiah 5:1, and, as the comparison with the strength of horned beasts is so frequent, must be rejected.—My stronghold [Eng. A. V.: high tower], steep, lofty place, inaccessible and therefore safe, see Psalm 9:10, 9 Eng.

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A.V.: refuge]. And my refuge, my Saviour, who saves me from violence. These words are wanting in Psalm 18. Their insertion is not to be explained from the desire to give rhythmical completeness to the strophe left imperfect by the omission of the “I love Thee, Jehovah” (Keil), but from the effort (in accordance with the position of the song here in the midst of the history) to explain the preceding declarations about God in respect to the help actually given by Him. As a testimony to the deliverance vouchsafed David by God as his rock, etc, the words make the transition to 2 Samuel 22:4.—Most modern expositors regard all these appellatives as in apposition with “Jehovah,” putting the latter in the vocative (so also Hitzig and Delitzsch) [“O Jehovah, my rock… my Saviour, Thou savest me from violence”]. But as Hupfeld (on Psalm 18:3, 2]) -rightly remarks, this would produce too long and heavy an address. The “Jehovah” is therefore (with the older expositors and the ancient versions) to be taken as subject, and the appellations as declarations: “Jehovah is my rock and my fortress,” etc.

4 I call to the LORD , who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

BARNES, "To Amasa ... - Evidently feeling his way toward fulfilling the promise to Amasa (marginal reference).

CLARKE, "Then said the king to Amasa - Thus he invests him with the command of the army, and sends him to collect the men of Judah, and to come back to receive his orders in relation to Sheba, in three days. It appears that Amasa found more difficulty in collecting his country-men than was at first supposed; and this detaining him beyond the three days, David, fearing that Sheba’s rebellion would get head, sent Abishai, who it appears was accompanied by Joab, to pursue after Sheba.

Amasa, it seems, got up with them at Gibeon, 2Sa_20:8, where he was treacherously murdered by the execrable Joab.

GILL, "Then said the king to Amasa,.... Whom he had promised to make general of his army, 2Sa_19:13; and by the following order declared him such:

assemble me the men of Judah within three days; which was done by the sound of the trumpet, or by the proclamation of a herald; it seems that the men of Judah, who attended David to Jerusalem, were gone to their respective cities and places of abode, or there would have been no occasion for such a summons; though it

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is strange they should, when the men of Israel appeared so inclinable to a new rebellion:

and be thou here present; to take the command of them.

HENRY 4-5, "We have here Amasa's fall just as he began to rise. He was nephew to David (2Sa_17:25), had been Absalom's general and commander-in-chief of his rebellious army, but, that being routed, he came over into David's interest, upon a promise that he should be general of his forces instead of Joab. Sheba's rebellion gives David an occasion to fulfil his promise sooner than he could wish, but Joab's envy and emulation rendered its fulfillment of ill consequence both to him and David.

I. Amasa has a commission to raise forces for the suppressing of Sheba's rebellion, and is ordered to raise them with all possible expedition, 2Sa_20:4. It seems, the men of Judah, though forward to attend the king's triumphs, were backward enough to fight his battles; else, when they were all in a body attending him to Jerusalem, they might immediately have pursued Sheba, and have crushed that cockatrice in the egg. But most love a loyalty, as well as a religion, that is cheap and easy. Many boast of their being akin to Christ that yet are very loth to venture for him. Amasa is sent to assemble the men of Judah within three days; but he finds them so backward and unready that he cannot do it within the time appointed (2Sa_20:5), though the promotion of Amasa, who had been their general under Absalom, was very obliging to them, and a proof of the clemency of David's government.

JAMISON, "Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days — Amasa is now installed in the command which David had promised him. The revolt of the ten tribes, probably, hastened the public declaration of this appointment, which he hoped would be popular with them, and Amasa was ordered within three days to levy a force from Judah sufficient to put down the insurrection. The appointment was a blunder, and the king soon perceived his error. The specified time passed, but Amasa could not muster the men. Dreading the loss of time, the king gave the commission to Abishai, and not to Joab - a new affront, which, no doubt, wounded the pride of the stern and haughty old general. But he hastened with his attached soldiers to go as second to his brother, determined to take the first opportunity of wreaking his vengeance on his successful rival.

K&D, "2Sa_20:4

David then ordered Amasa to call the men of Judah to pursue Sheba the rebel, and attack him within three days, and then to present himself to him again. This commission was intended as the commencement of the fulfilment of the promise which David had given to Amasa (2Sa_19:14). It was no doubt his intention to give him the command over the army that marched against Sheba, and after the defeat of the rebel to make him commander-in-chief. But this first step towards the fulfilment of the promise was a very imprudent act, like the promise itself, since Joab, who had been commander of the army for so many years, was grievously offended by it; and moreover, being a well-tried general, he had incomparably more distinction in the tribe of Judah than Amasa, who had taken part in Absalom's rebellion and even led the rebel army, could possibly have.

HAWKER, "(4) I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I

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be saved from mine enemies.

There are two sweet employments David resolves on in this verse, namely, to call upon the LORD: and secondly, because that LORD is so worthy of praise, that he will praise him. Reader! do not forget, that these are the natural, (I had almost said, but I would rather say), the gracious consequences of having relationship in, and interest with our GOD in CHRIST JESUS.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:4. As the praised one I call on the Lord, or: I call on the praised one, the Lord. The participle (מחלל) does not mean “glorious” (Hengst, Hupf.), but (conformably to the frequent hallelujah)=“blessed,” Psalm 48:2 [ Psalm 48:1]; Psalm 96:4; Psalm 113:3; Psalm 145:3, comp. 1 Chronicles 16:25; nor does it mean laudandus, “praiseworthy.” [The Participles may have the force of the Lat. Fut. Passive; Eng. A. V.: “worthy to be praised,” Vulg.: laudabilem; Sept.: ἀινετόν. The Chaldee (which paraphrases largely in 2 Samuel 22:3) takes it as active, and renders: “Said David, With praise I will pray before Jehovah.” Ewald (on Psalm 18) renders it: “worthy to be praised.”—Tr.] It is not vocative, but Accusative, and is put at the beginning of the sentence for the sake of emphasis, as in 2 Samuel 22:2; 2 Samuel 7:16; 2 Samuel 10:7; 2 Samuel 10:14; 2 Samuel 10:17. David has actually praised the Lord in the preceding predicates; they form the content of the praise. The rendering: “Praised be Thou, I cry, O Jehovah” (G. Baur, Olshausen) does not accord with the following member: “and from my enemies I am saved.” The verbs are not (with many old expositors) to be taken as future: “I will call, shall be saved,” but as expressing undefined past time, comp. Psalm 3:5 [ Psalm 3:4] [or, better as indefinite as to time, the Eng. general present.—Tr.]. David prefaces his song with this general, all-embracing declaration (based on all his experiences of the Lord’s help), of which the sense is: “as often as (= when) I call on the Lord, I am saved;” and he now proceeds to exhibit its truth by the citation of his experiences. He bases his confident appeal to the Lord for help on His manifestations of might, wherein he recognizes and praises God as his deliverer.

5 "The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

BARNES, "He tarried - The cause of Amasa’s delay is not stated. It may have been the unwillingness of the men of Judah to place themselves under his orders, or it may have been caused by a wavering or hesitation in loyalty. This last is evidently insinuated in 2Sa_20:11, and no doubt this was the pretext, whether grounded in fact or not, by which Joab justified the murder of Amasa before David.

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GILL, "So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah,.... To gather, them together out of their several tribes, and bring them to Jerusalem:

but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him: than the three days; whether this was owing to the remissness of Amasa, or the unwillingness of the people to serve under him, who had been Absalom's general in the late rebellion, or not having time sufficient allowed him, is not certain.

K&D, "2Sa_20:5-6

But when Amasa stayed out beyond the time fixed for the execution of the royal

commission (the Chethib וייחר is the Piel whilst the Keri ,וייחר is either the Hiphil ,וhוחר

or the imperfect Kal of יחר ,(2Sa_20:9, and is quite unnecessary ,[חז .l, cfחר =

probably because the men of Judah distrusted him, and were not very ready to respond to his summons, David said to Abishai, “Now will Sheba the son of Bichri be more injurious (more dangerous) to us than Absalom. Take thou the servants (soldiers) of thy lord and pursue after him, lest he reach fortified cities, and tear out our eye,” i.e., do us a serious injury. This is the correct explanation given by Böttcher, who refers to Deu_32:10 and Zec_2:12, where the apple of the eye is the figure used to signify the most valuable possession; for the general explanation, “and withdraw from our eye,” cannot be grammatically sustained.

ELLICOTT, "(5) The waves of death.—In Psalms 18, “the sorrows of death,” in the Authorised Version, but literally, the bands of death. The word is entirely different, and the variation can hardly have been accidental. The form here accords better with the parallelism of the next clause.

EXPOSITORS BIBLE COMMENTARY, "II. We pass on to the part of the song where the Psalmist describes his trials and God's deliverances in his times of danger (2 Samuel 22:5-20).

The description is eminently poetical. First, there is a vivid picture of his troubles. "The waves of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; the sorrows of hell compassed me; the snares of death prevented me" ("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," R.V.). It is no overcharged picture. With Saul's javelins flying at his head in the palace, or his best troops scouring the wilderness in search of him; with Syrian hosts bearing down on him like the waves of the sea, and a confederacy of nations conspiring to swallow him up, he might well speak of the waves of death and the cords of Hades. He evidently desires to describe the extremist peril and distress that can be conceived, a situation where the help of man is vain indeed. Then, after a brief account of his calling upon God, comes a most animated description of God coming to his help. The description is ideal, but it gives a vivid view how the Divine energy is roused when any of God's children are in distress. It is in heaven as in an earthly home when an alarm is given that one of the little children is in danger, has wandered away into a thicket where he has lost his way: every servant is summoned, every passer-by is

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called to the rescue, the whole neighbourhood is roused to the most strenuous efforts; so when the cry reached heaven that David was in trouble, the earthquake and the lightning and all the other messengers of heaven were sent out to his aid; nay, these were not enough; God Himself flew, riding on a cherub, yea, He did fly upon the wings of the wind. Faith saw God bestirring Himself for his deliverance, as if every agency of nature had been set in motion on his behalf.

And this being done, his deliverance was conspicuous and complete. He saw God's hand stretched out with remarkable distinctness. There could be no more doubt that it was God that rescued him from Saul than that it was He that snatched Israel from Pharaoh when literally " the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils." There could be no more doubt that it was God who protected David when men rose to swallow him up than that it was He who drew Moses from the Nile - ''He sent from above, He took me. He drew me out of many waters." No miracles had been wrought on David's behalf; unlike Moses and Joshua before him, and unlike Elijah and Elisha after him, he had not had the laws of nature suspended for his protection; yet he could see the hand of God stretched out for him as clearly as if a miracle had been wrought at every turn. Does this not show that ordinary Christians, if they are but careful to watch, and humble enough to watch in a chastened spirit, may find in their history, however quietly it may have glided by, many a token of the interest and care of their Father in heaven? And what a blessed thing to have accumulated through life a store of such providences - to have Ebenezers reared along the whole line of one's history! What courage after looking over such a past might one feel in looking forward to the future!

III. The next section of the song sets forth the grounds on which the Divine protection was thus enjoyed by David. Substantially these grounds were the uprightness and faithfulness with which he had served God. The expressions are strong, and at first sight they have a flavour of self-righteousness. "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 put not away His statutes from me. I was also perfect with Him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity." But it is impossible to read this Psalm without feeling that it is not pervaded by the spirit of the self-righteous man. It is pervaded by a profound sense of dependence on God, and of obligation to His mercy and love. Now that is the very opposite of the self-righteous spirit. We may surely find another way of accounting for such expressions used by David here. We may surely believe that all that was meant by him was to express the unswerving sincerity and earnestness with which he had endeavoured to serve God, with which he had resisted every temptation to conscious unfaithfulness, with which he had resisted every allurement to idolatry on the one hand or to the neglect of the welfare of God's nation on the other. What he here celebrates is, not any personal righteousness that might enable him as an individual to claim the favour and reward of God, but the ground on which he, as the public champion of God's cause before the world, enjoyed God's countenance and

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obtained His protection. There would be no self-righteousness in an inferior officer of the navy or the army who had been sent on some expedition saying, "I obeyed your instructions in every particular; I never deviated from the course you prescribed." There would have been no self-righteousness in such a man as Luther saying, "I constantly maintained the principles of the Bible; I never once abandoned Protestant ground." Such affirmations would never be held to imply a claim of personal sinlessness during the whole course of their lives. Substantially all that is asserted is, that in their public capacity they proved faithful to the cause entrusted to them; they never consciously betrayed their public charge. Now it is this precisely that David affirms of himself. Unlike Saul, who abandoned the law of the kingdom, David uniformly endeavoured to carry it into effect. The success which followed he does not claim as any credit to himself, but as due to his having followed the instructions of his heavenly Lord. It is the very opposite of a self-righteous spirit. He would have us understand that if ever he had abandoned the guidance of God, if ever he had relied on his own wisdom and followed the counsels of his own heart, everything would have gone wrong with him; the fact that he had been successful was due altogether to the Divine wisdom that guided and the Divine strength that upheld him.

Even with this explanation, some of the expressions may seem too strong. How could he speak of the cleanness of his hands, and of his not having wickedly departed from his God? Granting that the song was written before his sin in the case of Uriah, yet remembering how he had lied at Nob and equivocated at Gath, might he not have used less sweeping words? But it is not the way of burning, enthusiastic minds to be forever weighing their words, and guarding against misunderstandings. Enthusiasm sweeps along in a rapid current. And David correctly describes the prevailing features of his public endeavours. His public life was unquestionably marked by a sincere and commonly successful endeavour to follow the will of God. In contrast with Saul and Ishbosheth, side by side with Absalom or Sheba, his career was purity itself, and bore out the rule of the Divine government, "With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful, and with the upright man Thou wilt show Thyself upright. With the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure, and with the froward Thou wilt show Thyself unsavoury." If God is to prosper us, there must be an inner harmony between us and Him. If the habit of our life be opposed to God, the result can only be collision and rebuke. David was conscious of the inner harmony, and therefore he was able to rely on being supported and blessed.

IV. In the wide survey of his life and of his providential mercies, the eye of the Psalmist is particularly fixed on some of his deliverances, in the remembrance of which he specially praises God. One of the earliest appears to be recalled in the words, "By my God have I leaped over a wall," - the wall, it may be supposed, of Gibeah, down which Michal let him when Saul sent to take him in his house. Still further back, perhaps, in his life is the allusion in another expression - "Thy gentleness hath made me great" He seems to go back to his shepherd life, and in the gentleness with which he dealt with the feeble lamb that might have perished in rougher hands to find an emblem of God's method with himself. If God had not dealt gently with him, he never would have become what he was. The Divine

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gentleness had made paths easy that rougher treatment would have made intolerable. And who of us that looks back but must own our obligations to the gentleness of God, the tender, forbearing, nay loving, treatment He has bestowed on us, even in the midst of provocations that would have justified far harsher treatment?

But what? Can David praise God’s gentleness and in the next words utter such terrible words against his foes? How can he extol God's gentleness to him and immediately dwell on his tremendous severity to them? "I have consumed them and wounded them that they could not arise; yea, they are fallen under my feet. . . . Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad." It is the military spirit which we have so often observed, looking on his enemies in one light only, as identified with everything evil and enemies of all that was good. To show mercy to them would be like showing mercy to destructive wild beasts, raging bears, venomous serpents, and rapacious vultures. Mercy to them would be cruelty to all God's servants; it would be ruin to God's cause. No! for them the only fit doom was destruction, and that destruction he had dealt to them with no unsparing hand.

But while we perceive his spirit, and harmonize it with his general character, we cannot but regard it as the spirit of one who was imperfectly enlightened. We tremble when we think what fearful wickedness persecutors and inquisitors have committed, under the idea that the same course was to be followed against those whom they deemed enemies of the cause of God. We rejoice in the Christian spirit that teaches us to regard even public enemies as our brothers, for whom individually kindly and brotherly feelings are to be cherished. And we remember the new aspect in which our relations to such have been placed by our Lord: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you."

In the closing verses of the Psalm, the views of the Psalmist seem to sweep beyond the limits of an earthly kingdom. His eye seems to embrace the wide-spreading dominion of Messiah; at all events, he dwells on those features of his own kingdom that were typical of the all-embracing kingdom of the Gospel: "Thou hast made me the head of the nations; 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 forty-ninth verse is quoted by St. Paul (Romans 15:9) as a proof that in the purpose of God the salvation of Christ was designed for Gentiles as well as Jews. "It is beyond doubt," says Luther, "that the wars and victories of David prefigured the passion and resurrection of Christ." At the same time, he admits that it is very doubtful how far the Psalm applies to Christ, and how far to David, and he declines to press the type to particulars. But we may surely apply the concluding words to David's Son: "He showeth loving-kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed for evermore."

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It is interesting to mark the military aspect of the kingdom gliding into the missionary. Other psalms bring out more clearly this missionary element, exhibit David rejoicing in the widening limits of his kingdom, in the wider diffusion of the knowledge of the true God, and in the greater happiness and prosperity accruing to men. And yet, perhaps, his views on the subject were comparatively dim; he may have been disposed to identify the conquests of the sword and the conquests of the truth instead of regarding the one as but typical of the other. The visions and revelations of his later years seem to have thrown new light on this glorious subject, and though not immediately, yet ultimately, to have convinced him that truth, righteousness, and meekness were to be the conquering weapons of Messiah's reign.

HAWKER, "(5) When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; (6) The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

There seems to be from this verse, David's entrance upon the whole subject of his life, in the many deliverances which the LORD had wrought out for him! He compares the many attacks of his enemies, to the image of floods pouring in upon the soul, to overwhelm it. Reader! it is precious to remark in our own experience, that, from the grace that is in CHRIST JESUS, many waters cannot quench love, neither all the floods drown it. No, blessed JESUS! thy love in the hearts of thy people, planted in their souls by thine own Almighty hand, is an incorruptible seed, that liveth and abideth forever. David uses two other similitudes to describe his trials by; the sorrows of hell, and the snares of death: meaning, that both hell and death joined in confederacy against him. And from the dangers of both, he had no more power to deliver himself, than sinners from the terrors of the chained in hell; nor, than dead men fast-bound in the grave. Reader! consider this in a spiritual sense, and how will it tend to heighten the deliverance from everlasting misery, and everlasting death, by the Person and salvation of the LORD JESUS CHRIST!

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:5-7. From the description of the dangers that pressed on him ( 2 Samuel 22:5-6), he proceeds to the avowal that he called on the Lord for help, and was heard ( 2 Samuel 22:7).

2 Samuel 22:5. For breakers of death had surrounded[FN8] me. The “for” (lacking in Psalm 18:5, 4]) introduces the following as the ground of the declaration of 2 Samuel 22:4. Instead of “breakers” the Psalm, has “cords (bands),” representing death under the image of a hunter, comp. Psalm 91:3. The “breakers” here correspond better to the “floods” of the next member. “Floods of wickedness;” the word (בליעל) means properly “uselessness, worthlessness,” commonly found in an ethical sense: “wickedness,” comp. 2 Samuel 16:7; 2 Samuel 20:1; 2 Samuel 23:6; 1 Samuel 2:12; 1 Samuel 10:27; 1 Samuel 25:17; 1 Samuel 25:25. It is found also in the physical sense of “destruction, harm,” Nahum 1:11; Psalm 41:9 [ Psalm 41:8, Eng. A. V.: evil disease]. So it must be

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taken here also, on account of the parallels: “breakers of death, nets of hell, snares of death.” “Had terrified[FN9] me” (suddenly come upon me). [Dr. Erdmann in his translation, renders: “floods of wickedness,” but his preceding statement requires: “floods of destruction,” (so Delitzsch).—Tr.]

PETT, "2 Samuel 22:5-7

“For the waves of death encompassed me,

The floods of worthlessness 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,

Yes, I called to my God,

And he heard my voice out of his temple,

And my cry came into his ears.”

And he had needed YHWH’s protection because of the horrors that he had had to face, the waves of Death trying to drown him, the floods of the Ungodly/the Unworthy (Saul and his warriors/the hosts of Aram) filling him with fear, the cords of the Grave wrapping round him and binding him as he looked death in the face, and the snares of Death entangling him as he felt himself being slowly drawn in. He had felt as though he was constantly in danger of being both engulfed and ensnared. The description is vivid. It is the picture of a man fighting for his very existence, with death a hairsbreadth away.

No wonder then that he had often been distressed. But in that distress he had called on YHWH, yes, he had called on his God. And his God had heard him ‘out of His heavenly Temple’ (compare 2 Samuel 11:4; Isaiah 6:1; Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 63:15; Micah 1:2; Habakkuk 2:20). His cry had reached God’s ears. And the result was that God had come in majestic and awesome (even if in invisible, and outwardly unnoticeable) power. The Spirit of YHWH had manifested His powerful working effectively.

PULPIT 5-7, 'Instead of breakers—waves dashing violently on rocks—Psalms 18:4 has "cords of death;" translated "sorrow" in the Authorized Version. But "cords of death" mean the fatal snares of the hunter, and are not in keeping with "torrents of wickedness." "Belial," literally, "worthlessness," is by many supposed, from the context to mean herd "destruction," that is, physical instead of moral wickedness. So in Nahum 1:11 "a counsellor of Belial" means a ruinous, destructive counsellor. Sheol is the world of the departed, and is equivalent to "death." Cried is the same verb twice used. In Psalms 18:6 it is altered, in the former part of the verse unto "I called"—a change probably suggested by the more fastidious taste of a later age. For temple we should translate palace, or heavenly temple. It is not the temple in Jerusalem, which was not yet built, but

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God's heavenly dwelling, that is meant. Instead of the terse ellipse, "And my cry in his ears," the full but heavy phrase, "My cry before him came into his ears," is substituted in Psalms 18:6.

6 The cords of the grave [2] coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

BARNES, "To Abishai - Probably, as the king was on bad terms with Joab, and wished to deprive him of his post as Captain of the host, he gave his orders to Abishai, and weakly connived at the execution of them by Joab, which was inevitable.

GILL, "And David said to Abishai,.... For it seems he would have nothing to say to Joab, being displeased with him for slaying Absalom, and having removed him from his posts; and therefore speaks to the next officer in his army, Abishai; though Josephus (p) says, he addressed himself to Joab, contrary to the express words of the text:

now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom; gain a greater party, and give more trouble to subdue him, unless suppressed in time:

take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him; without waiting for Amasa, and the troops he was assembling; delays in such a case as an insurrection being dangerous, which ought to be nipped in the bud, and crushed as soon as possible; in order to which, he bids him take his servants that were about him, his bodyguards, and pursue Sheba:

lest he get him fenced cities; where he may secure himself, and hold out a siege a long time, and give a great deal of trouble:

and escape us; for the present; or "escape our eyes", as the "Keri", or marginal reading is; we shall lose sight of him, and not know which way he is gone, if he is not pursued quickly.

HENRY 6-7, "II. Upon Amasa's delay, Abishai, the brother of Joab, is ordered to take the guards and standing forces, and with them to pursue Sheba (2Sa_20:6, 2Sa_20:7), for nothing could be of more dangerous consequence than to give him time. David gives these orders to Abishai, because he resolves to mortify Joab, and degrade him, not so much, I doubt, for the blood of Abner, which he had shed basely, as for the blood of Absalom, which he had shed justly and honourably. “Now (says bishop Hall) Joab smarteth for a loyal disobedience. How slippery are the stations of earthly honours and subject to continual mutability! Happy are those who are in favour with him in whom there is no shadow of change.” Joab, without orders, though in disgrace, goes along with his brother, knowing he might be serviceable to the public,

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or perhaps now meditating the removal of his rival.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:6. Nets of hell [better: Sheol.[FN10]—Tr.]—snares of death. From the figure of water-waves the poet passes to that of the hunter, under which is represented the suddenly and treacherously attacking power of death. “Snares of death fall on me” (קדם) comp. 2 Samuel 22:19; Psalm 17:13; Job 30:27.—The words of 2 Samuel 22:5-6 describe not all the dangers of David’s life up to this time (Keil, Ew, Hupf, Thol.), but the snares and persecutions that befell him in Saul’s time. The description of peril of life agrees only with this time, which the title also expressly mentions. This view is favored also by the relation between the two sections, 2 Samuel 22:5-46, “in the first of which David is saved by God without effort on his part, while in the second, he is both object and instrument of the divine deliverance” (Hengst.). In the same direction Riehm (in Hupfeld) well remarks that David in the whole of the first part is only passive, not active (only God’s hand saves him), but in the second part on the contrary himself as a warrior, wards off his enemies.

7 In my distress I called to the LORD ; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.

GILL, "And there went out after him Joab's men,.... Who though he was removed from his post as general, yet might still have the command of a regiment:

and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites; over whom Benaiah was, 2Sa_20:23; these attended David in his flight, and had now returned with him, 2Sa_15:18,

and all the mighty men; the military men that were at Jerusalem as many as could be spared:

and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri; with Abishai at the head of them; Josephus (q) says there were six hundred, besides the soldiers at Jerusalem that went on this pursuit.

K&D, "2Sa_20:7

Thus there went after him (Abishai) Joab's men (the corps commanded by Joab), and the Crethi and Plethi (see at 2Sa_8:18), out of Jerusalem, to pursue Sheba.

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ELLICOTT, "(7) Called . . . cried.—The original words are the same here, although differing in the parallel place in the psalm.

My cry did enter into his ears.—Literally, my cry in his ears, an elliptical expression which is filled out in the psalm, “my cry came before him, even into his ears.”

HAWKER, "Verses 7-19

(7) In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears. (8) Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth. (9) There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. (10) He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet. (11) And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind. (12) And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies. (13) Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled. (14) The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice. (15) And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them. (16) And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. (17) He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters; (18) He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. (19) They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

The preparatory verses, are all intended as introductory to what is here said. For, if such was David's misery; such his enemies; such his helplessness, and inability to cope with them; what grace must have been manifested in his deliverance by the LORD GOD of his salvation. The expressions of which David makes use, of the shaking of the earth, and the foundation of the heavens, are not to be understood literally; but, the mercies in which the LORD spake to him on those occasions, were as evident tokens of the LORD's kindness and regard to him, as if GOD had spoken by thunder, and manifested the part he took in it, by a voice from heaven. Reader! spiritually considered, when sinners are awakened, and converted, by the gracious operations of GOD the HOLY GHOST, do not their souls sometimes answer to those mercies, by the first apprehensions of the mind, as if their whole frames were convulsed, like the trembling of the earth, or the shaking of the heavens. Probably, in this high and beautiful style of expression, David had in view, Moses' account of the LORD's leading his chosen out of Egypt. The sacred writers, in more than one instance, seem to have had this in view. See Exodus 15:2-13; Habakkuk 3:2; to the end. Psalms 114:1, to the end.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:7. Looking back at those deadly dangers, David affirms that he was driven by them to call on God, and was heard by him. In my distress[FN11] I called upon the Lord, and to my God I called. Instead of

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“called” the Ps. has “cried,” answering to the distress that forced such a cry from him. And he heard my voice out of his palace, out of God’s heavenly dwelling, as contrasted with the depth of distress on earth, out of which he sent up to God his cry for help. Comp. Psalm 16:4 : “The Lord is in his holy palace, the Lord’s throne is in heaven.” Thence appears the Lord’s help. [Eng. A. V, not so well: “temple,” for, though heaven may be regarded as a temple, Jehovah is here represented as a king, enthroned in heaven and the word “temple” would most probably be understood by English readers of the earthly building consecrated to His service. The Hebrew word means both palace and temple.—Tr.] And my cry into his ears. The Psalm, has the fuller vivid description: “and my cry came before him, into his ears;” our passage has the advantage of more emphatic brevity (comp. Hengst, Rem.).

8 "The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens [3] shook; they trembled because he was angry.

BARNES, "Amasa went before them - Rather, “advanced to meet them.” Amasa was no doubt returning to Jerusalem, according to his orders 2Sa_20:4, and was probably much surprised to meet the army in march. Joab’s resolution was quickly taken.

And Joab’s garment ... - Render, “And Joab was girded with his military garment, as his clothing, and upon it” - i. e., the military garment - (or “him”), “the girdle of a sword fastened on his loins in its sheath, and as he went forth” (to meet Amasa) “it fell” out of the sheath. What appears to have happened is that, by accident or design, Joab’s sword fell out of the scabbard on the ground as he was going to meet Amasa, and that he picked it up with his left hand so as to have his right hand free for the customary salutation 2Sa_20:9. This awakened no suspicion in Amasa’s mind. Compare the case of Ehud, Jdg_3:21.

CLARKE, "Joab’s garment - It appears that this was not a military garment; and that Joab had no arms but a short sword, which he had concealed in his girdle; and this sword, or knife, was so loose in its sheath that it could be easily drawn out. It is thought farther, that Joab, in passing to Amasa, stumbled, (for so some of the versions, and able critics, understand the words it fell out). and that the sword fell down when he stumbled; that he took it up with his left hand as if he had no bad intention; and then, taking Amasa by the beard with his right hand, pretending to kiss him, he, with his sword in his left hand, ripped up his bowels. This seems to be the meaning of this very obscure verse. It is worthy of remark that in the Eastern country it is the beard, not the man, which is usually kissed.

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GILL, "When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon,.... Which, according to Josephus (r), was forty furlongs, or five miles from Jerusalem: what this great stone was, whether an obelisk, or what, is not certain; one of the greatest stones we read of was that which Semiramis cut out of the mountains of Armenia, which was an hundred thirty feet long, and twenty five broad and thick (s). This place was appointed for the rendezvous of David's forces, and hither Amasa came with what he had assembled together, and joined them, and took the command of them: for it follows:

Amasa went before them; as the general of them:

and Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him; who went along with his brother Abishai at the head of his own men, to which he was obliged by virtue of his commission; or went of himself to serve the common cause, and perhaps chiefly with a design to murder Amasa, whom he envied, because he was put into his post as general, and therefore accoutred himself for it; he put on, not a coat of mail, but a common garment which he girt about him, that it might be no incumbrance to him or hinderance of him, in doing what he intended, but that he might more expeditiously execute it:

and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; the sword in the belt was not on his thigh, but on his loins, on the outside of his clothes, and was put into a sheath too large, and placed in such a position, that with the least motion, when he pleased, it would easily drop out of it, without drawing it, and so give no suspicion of his design:

and as he went forth; to meet Amasa, just as he came to him:

it fell out; the sword fell out of the sheath to the ground.

HENRY 8-10, "III. Joab, near Gibeon, meets with Amasa, and barbarously murders him, 2Sa_20:8-10. It should seem, the great stone in Gibeon was the place appointed for the general rendezvous. There the rivals met; and Amasa, relying upon his commission, went before, as general both of the new-raised forces which he had got together, and of the veteran troops which Abishai had brought in; but Joab there took an opportunity to kill him with his own hand; and, 1. He did it subtilely, and with contrivance, and not upon a sudden provocation. He girded his coat about him, that it might not hang in his way, and girded his belt upon his coat, that his sword might be the readier to his hand; he also put his sword in a sheath too big for it, that, whenever he pleased, it might, upon a little shake, fall out, as if it fell by accident, and so he might take it into his hand, unsuspected, as if he were going to return it into the scabbard, when he designed to sheath it in the bowels of Amasa. The more there is of plot in a sin the worse it is. 2. He did it treacherously, and under pretence of friendship, that Amasa might not be upon his guard. He called him brother, for they were own cousins, enquired of his welfare (Art thou in health?) and took him by the beard, as one he was free with, to kiss him, while with the drawn sword in his other hand he was aiming at his heart. Was this done like a gentleman, like a soldier, like a general? No, but like a villain, like a base coward. Just thus he slew Abner, and went unpunished for it, which encouraged him to do the like again. 3. He did it impudently, not in a corner, but at the head of his troops, and in their sight, as one

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that was neither ashamed nor afraid to do it, that was so hardened in blood and murders that he could neither blush nor tremble. 4. He did it at one blow, gave the fatal push with a good-will, as we say, so that he needed not strike him again; with such a strong and steady hand he gave this one stroke that it was fatal. 5. He did it in contempt and defiance of David and the commission he had given to Amasa; for that commission was the only ground of his quarrel with him, so that David was struck at through the side of Amasa, and was, in effect, told to his face that Joab would be general, in spite of him. 6. He did it very unseasonably, when they were going against a common enemy and were concerned to be unanimous. This ill-timed quarrel might have scattered their forces, or engaged them one against another, and so have made them all an easy prey to Sheba. So contentedly could Joab sacrifice the interest both of king and kingdom to his personal revenge.

JAMISON, "Amasa went before them — Having collected some forces, he by a rapid march overtook the expedition at Gibeon, and assumed the place of commander; in which capacity, he was saluted, among others, by Joab.

Joab’s garment, that he had put on was girded unto him — in the fashion of travelers and soldiers.

a sword ... and as he went forth it fell out — that is, out of the scabbard. According to Josephus, he let it drop on purpose as he was accosting Amasa, that stooping, as it were accidentally, to pick it up, he might salute the new general with the naked sword in his hand, without exciting any suspicion of his design.

He went forth — in a ceremonious manner to meet Amasa, now commander-in-chief, in order to seem to render to that officer, whom he considered as usurping his post, a conspicuous honor and homage.

ELLICOTT, "(8) Of heaven.—Psalms 18, “of the hills.” The thought is the same, but the strong poetic figure by which the mountains are spoken of as “the pillars of heaven” (comp. Job 26:11) is softened in the psalm.

K&D, "2Sa_20:8

“When they were by the great stone at Gibeon, and Amasa came to meet them (there), Joab was girded with his armour-coat as his clothing, and the girdle of the sword was bound over it upon his loins in its sheath, which came out, and it fell (i.e., the sheath came out of the sword-belt in which it was fastened, and the sword fell to the ground), Joab said to Amasa,” etc. The eighth verse contains only circumstantial

clauses, the latter of which (from בlויו onwards) are subordinate to the earlier ones,

so that אמרhו (2Sa_20:9) is attached to the first clause, which describes the meeting

between the advancing army and Amasa.

There is something striking, however, in the fact that Joab appears among them, and indeed, as we see from what follows, as the commander of the forces; for according to 2Sa_20:6, David had commissioned Abishai, Joab's brother, to pursue Sheba, and even in 2Sa_20:7 Joab's men only are mentioned. This difficulty can hardly be solved in any other manner than by the simple assumption that David had told Abishai to go out with Joab, and that this circumstance is passed over in the brief account in 2Sa_20:6, in which the principal facts alone are given, and consequently the name of Joab does not occur there. Clericus adopts the following explanation. “Mention,” he says, “has hitherto been made simply of the command

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given to Abishai, but this included an order to Joab to go as well; and there is nothing to preclude the supposition that Joab's name was mentioned by the king, although this is not distinctly stated in the brief account before us.”

(Note: This difficulty cannot be removed by emendations of the text, inasmuch as all the early translators, with the exception of the Syriac, had our Hebrew text before them. Thenius does indeed propose to alter Abishai into Joab in 2Sa_20:6, after the example of Josephus and the Syriac; but, as Böttcher observes, if Joab had originally formed part of the text, it could not have been altered into Abishai either accidentally or intentionally, and the Syriac translators and Josephus have inserted Joab merely from conjecture, because they inferred from what follows that Joab's name ought to be found here. But whilst this is perfectly true, there is no ground for Böttcher's own conjecture, that in the original text 2Sa_20:6 read as follows: “Then David said to Joab, Behold, the three days are gone: shall we wait for Amasa?” and through the copyist's carelessness a whole line was left out. For this conjecture has no tenable support in the senseless

reading of the Cod. Vat., πρpς�rµεσσαι for rβισαι.)

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:8-20. Splendid poetical description of God’s help appearing in answer to his prayer, under the image of a terrible storm accompanied by an earthquake, the individual features being given with vivid coloring in accordance with the natural order of the phenomena. Comp. Tholuck, on Psalm, p91.—As the preceding description of distress refers not to the whole of David’s life, but only to the Sauline period, so this poetical description is not to be understood of a real storm (as in 1 Samuel 7:10) that terrified the enemy and saved David. Thenius, Ewald and Hitzig, indeed, so understand it, and refer it to a storm in a battle with the Syrians ( 2 Samuel 7:5), and similarly others. But, in the first place, the connection is against this; for the deliverance described in 2 Samuel 22:17-20 is clearly none other than the salvation from the distress pictured in 2 Samuel 22:5-7. Further, the figure (here poetically elaborated) of a terrible storm, is the standing form of representation of God’s glory and majesty in the revelation of His holiness and punitive justice, as in the fundamental passage, Exodus 19 (the legislation on Sinai). So are often represented God’s theophanies for the revelation of His anger, for the accomplishment of His judgments, for the deliverance of His people from their enemies and for new unfoldings of the glory of His kingdom; comp. besides Exodus 19:16-18, especially Judges 5:4-5; Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:27-30; Joel 2:10-11; Joel 3:3 sq. [ 2 Samuel 2:30-31]; Nab1:3-6; Psalm 50:2-3; Psalm 77:17-19 [ Psalm 77:16-18]; Psalm 97:2-5.—Certainly, “if the poet had meant by all this to say merely: ‘God even in the greatest need, has accorded me almighty help,’ the apparatus would in fact be too great” (Thenius). But the connection shows that he means to say more; looking at the fears and dangers of the gloomy time of Saul’s persecution, he will comprehensively set forth how the Lord visited His wrathful judgments on the enemy that so oppressed him, God’s servant, and in him endangered the cause of God’s kingdom, and how the Lord by His invincible might, saved him and gave victory to his cause. “The combination of the figure of 2 Samuel 22:17 sqq, with other and general features, suggests that it also has a general reference.” (Hupfeld). So Riehm (in Hupf, p465) remarks that the description has no historical reference, but by its poetical form, holds itself above the plane of concrete history.

2 Samuel 22:8. The earthquake is the sign of God’s approaching wrath; as the Lord descends from His temple in heaven to judgment on earth, the whole earth quakes before Him. There is probably in this an allusion to thunder as the voice of the approaching wrathful God, under the mighty peals of which heaven and earth shake;

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see Joel 2:10, 11; 4:16; [ Joel 3:16]. Nahum 1:5. The effect is vividly represented in the text by paronomasia[FN12] in three verbs (“the earth was shaking and quaking, the foundations of heaven quailing and shaking”).—The foundations of the heaven shake together with the earth. The Psalm, in which only the shaking of the earth is spoken of, has: “the foundations of the mountains.” The mountains rising up towards heaven are, according to the natural view, regarded as the foundation on which heaven rests; comp. Job 26:11, where they are called “the pillars of heaven.” “The text of 2 Sam, represents the whole universe as trembling before Him, in order to picture strongly the terribleness of the wrath of the Almighty; so Joel 2:10, 11; 4:16 [ Joel 3:16]; Isaiah 13:13.” For he was wroth. The wrath of God is here expressly stated to be the cause of the trembling of heaven and earth.

PETT 8-13, "YHWH’s coming to David’s assistance is vividly portrayed in terms of a terrible storm (compare Judges 5:4). The violent thunder causes the earth to shake and reveals His anger. The lightning starts fires, the smoke of which, as it were, comes out of His nostrils. The darkness surrounds Him like a tent or pavilion and the wind swirls around Him, while the thick thunder clouds also gather around. Note how these pictures of the earth shaking, the mighty thunder, the vivid lightning, the smoke and the fire are all reminiscent of Sinai (Exodus 19:16; Exodus 19:18). It is the God of Sinai Who is acting on David’s behalf.

So the fierceness of God’s anger over the treatment of His Anointed is being expressed in terms of the quaking earth and the mountains shaking at their very bases, in the midst of the thick, swirling clouds that sometimes come down to cover the earth and with the fire and smoke, which result from bolts of lightning starting fierce fires on it, as the lightning strikes the very ground. It presents us with an awe-inspiring scene. And as we have seen there is surely a reference to the appearance of YHWH at Sinai in thunder, and quaking earth, and thick cloud, and smoke and fire (Exodus 19:16; Exodus 19:18). The God of Sinai was coming, even though invisibly, to David’s aid. As Saul sought to track down David and kill him he was, of course oblivious of such activity. Saul was totally unaware of the heavenly vengeance that he was bringing down on himself. To him the heavens seemed silent, and there was nothing further from his mind than the idea that YHWH was fighting for David. What he overlooked was the fact that the mills of God were grinding him, and that though they were grinding slowly, they would grind exceeding small, and with great power.

For the idea of YHWH riding on the cherub and flying see the vivid description of YHWH on His airborne throne borne by the cherubim in Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10. Compare also Psalms 104:3. (In earlier Canaanite literature Baal also was described as ‘the Rider of the clouds’).

Note the dual repetition of the kindling of ‘coals of fire’ (2 Samuel 22:9; 2 Samuel 22:13), perhaps a symbol of the coals of fire upon the altar (Isaiah 6:6). It may suggest that YHWH had in mind a sacrificial offering. But it may simply express God’s holy anger. Fire regularly indicates God’s anger (Psalms 97:3; Exodus 15:7; Deuteronomy 32:22; Hebrews 12:29).

There is also in all this very much a picture which contains the air of mystery. Note the emphasis on ‘darkness’, the darkness of the hiddenness, of His mysterious working. Darkness and thick clouds were ever His hiding place and His enveloping

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tent, His protection and His cover. For man was not allowed to see His direct activity, nor could man see God and live. All that they saw was the results.

PULPIT 8-10, "In describing the manifestation of God for his deliverance, David bore in mind and repeated the description of God's descent to earth given in Exodus 19:16, Exodus 19:18. But the poetic vigour of David's imagination intensities the imagery, and makes it more grand and startling. Not merely is there the earthquake and the volcano and the storm cloud, but the dim form of the Almighty is present, with the smoke of just anger at unrighteousness ascending from his nostrils, and the lightnings flashing forth to execute his wrath. But David certainly intended that these metaphors should remain ideal; and it was quite unnecessary for the Targum carefully to eliminate all such expressions as seem to give the Almighty bureau shape. In so doing it merely changes poetry into prose. But even more dull and commonplace is the explanation given by some modern commentators, that all that is meant is that David was once saved by a thunderstorm from some danger or other. Really this glorious imagery, taken from all that is grandest on earth, is intended to magnify to us the spiritual conception of God's justice coming forth to visit the earth and do right and equity. In Exodus 19:8 for "the foundations of the heavens," we find in Psalms 18:7 "the foundations of the hills." The former is the grander metaphor, and signifies the mighty mountain ranges, like those of Lebanon, on which the skies seem to rest. The smoke signifies hailstorms and, perhaps, also the rain driven in wreaths along the ground by the wind. Red hot cinders burned from him describes the flashing lightnings that were shot forth like the coals from the refiner's furnace when heated to the full. It is to be regretted that the Revised Version retains the bathos of the old rendering, that God's fiery breath set coals on fire.

9 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

GILL, "And Joab said to Amasa,.... In a friendly manner, with all the air of pleasantry and good humour:

art thou in health, my brother? this looked like a friendly salutation to ask of his health, and wish him it, and a loving appellation to call him brother; though they were near of kin, sisters' children, and so own cousins; thus he addressed him, to cover his design:

and Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him: as was usual for the eastern people to do when they addressed and saluted one another in an affectionate way, and as the Turks and Arabs do to this day, as travellers relate. Barthius (t) has collected passages from the Greek poets, which show it to be a custom, that when a man asked a favour of another, he caught hold of his beard with the right hand, and of his knee with the left; and in such a posture Joab might easily do what follows.

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JAMISON, "took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him — This act, common with two friends on meeting when one of them returns from a journey, indicates respect as well as kindliness, and the performance of it evinced the deep hypocrisy of Joab, who thereby put Amasa off his guard. No wonder, then, that while this act of friendly gratulation after long absence occupied Amasa’s attention, he did not perceive the sword that was in Joab’s left hand. The action of Joab was indeed a high compliment, but neither suspicious nor unusual and to this compliment, Amasa paying attention and no doubt returning it with suitable politeness, he could little expect the fatal event that Joab’s perfidy produced.

K&D, "2Sa_20:9-10

Joab asked Amasa how he was, and laid hold of his bear with his right hand to kiss him. And as Amasa took no heed of the sword in Joab's hand, he smote him with it in the paunch (abdomen), and shed out his bowels upon the ground, “and repeated not(the stroke) to him” (cf. 1Sa_26:8). Laying hold of the beard to kiss is still customary among Arabs and Turks as a sign of friendly welcome (vid., Arvieux, Merkwürdige Nachrichten, iv. p. 182, and Harmar, Beobachtungen, ii. p. 61). The reason for this assassination was Joab's jealousy of Amasa. Joab and Abishai then followed Sheba.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:9. Elaboration of the preceding “he was wroth,” by the description of the approaching appearance of the wrath of God, under the figure of smoke and fire. Smoke rose in his nostril—not: “in His anger” (Sept, Vulg, Stier), but (in keeping with the parallel “mouth”) His nose, which is considered the seat of anger (so also in Greek and Latin writers); and so its snorting (comp. 2 Samuel 22:16), as in the case of an angry Prayer of Manasseh, is the figure of God’s anger, which, as a heightening of the image, is compared to smoke, as in Psalm 74:1; Psalm 80:5 [ Psalm 80:4, Eng. A. V.; “be angry,” literally: “smoke”]; Deuteronomy 29:19. And fire devoured out of his mouth. Fire is a standing image of God’s consuming anger (comp. Deuteronomy 32:22). The smoke, as the natural accompaniment of fire, denotes the uprising and approach of God’s anger. For similar figure of smoke and fire see (besides the fundamental passage, Exodus 19:18), Isaiah 65:5. The “out of his mouth” is parallel to “out of his nose.” The image of the mouth answers to the consuming force of the fire of wrath. The verb “devoured” is to be taken without an object (as “the enemy”); it stands absolutely (as in Psalm 50:3), only the consuming power of the fire being indicated. Glowing coals burned out of him; the “glowing coals” is parallel to the “devouring fire,” adding to the picture the feature of the flames that proceed from the fire. “Out of him,” that Isaiah, out of His mouth, as a burning oven, pour the flames of the sea of fire (comp. Genesis 15:17). The mouth is designated as the medium of the revelation of anger; because the fire of human anger pours from the heart through the mouth in angry words. The fire in the Lord’s mouth is symbolized “as one flaming in full glow” (Hupfeld). There is no reference here to flashes of lightning. “These are the later product (comp. 2 Samuel 22:13) of the flame of fire and anger, that is here just kindled” (Hengst.). But since the representation of a rising storm (breaking out afterwards in 2 Samuel 22:13 with thunder and lightning) is carried out in the poetical conception, so in the picture thus far the image of smoke and flaming fire is to be referred to the rising of the storm-cloud and the flaming of the sheet-lightning that announces the storm (Tholuck).

BI, "Art thou in health, my brother?

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The Soul’s Health

The sickness of the soul is the evil of all evils, and one in comparison with which mere bodily pain is nothing. Whether sin be regarded as a disease, or as guilt, or as both combined, there is only one Physician, even God Himself, who can help us. The medicine and the skill are His, and he alone can effectually and permanently heal. He has no pleasure in the sickness or death of His creatures; indeed, so far from this he desires that all should be in health and be happy.

I. We suppose ourselves in a hospital occupied by those who are spiritually diseased, and the symptoms must be inquired into and noted.

1. First, then, as to the condition of the pulse. Does it beat strongly and vigorously, indicating a proper circulation? or is it slow, languid, and irregular? Has joy departed? and has zeal ceased to inspire your soul for the discharge of high and holy duties?

2. Next, let me ask concerning your memory. Are past trials forgotten? Have you ceased to think of god’s many mercies with gratitude? There are bitter mercies as well as sweet ones, and the Great Physician administers to us some of His healing remedies in wine, and others in wormwood.

3. The condition of your appetite. Does it relish wholesome fare? Do you find pleasure in the reading of good books; and above all, in the study of god’s word? Is plain gospel preaching the nutriment which suits you best; or is there a constant craving after highly-seasoned and stimulating rhapsodies, which constitute so large a proportion of the popular preaching of the day? Mere flowers of rhetoric are like the blue and red blossoms in cornfields—pleasing to those who come for amusement, but prejudicial to those who would reap the grain.

4. The condition of your strength. Is your ability to do God’s will, to work for Him, and to endure pains and sacrifices, up to the highest standard which you have ever reached? or is such spiritual strength perceptibly on the decline? How many forget that it is impossible robe good without self-denial and effort, and that in order to such exertion we must have strength. The soul will always be feeble and sickly so long as this is lacking.

II. Let us go on, then, to describe some timely remedies.

1. Avoid everything which disagrees with your soul’s health. Many dangerous diseases are infectious, and hence, evil companions, and unlawful pleasures, cannot be too carefully shunned. “lord, I trust thou hast pardoned the bad examples I have set before others,” said old Thomas Fuller in his prayer, “be pleased also to pardon me the sins which they have committed by my bad examples.” The Nazarites whose strict vows allowed them to drink no wine, also forbade them to cut grapes from which wine is made. And so, they who would enjoy spiritual health, must not only avoid sin in itself, but also the companionship and associations which lead to it.

2. Retirement. The Great Physician should be sought often, that we may be alone with Him. Virtue always goeth out of Him to heal those who thus manifest a desire for His saving help. Especially, during the holy season of Lent, let us thus seek to be alone with the Saviour. “Depart from the highway,” says St. Chrysostom, “and transplant thyself in some enclosed ground, for it is hard for a tree that stands by the wayside to keep her fruit till it be ripe.”

3. We must be willing to take freely of the balm of Gilead, the doctrine of God’s unchangeable love; and also of bitter herbs, such as meditations on the

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shipwrecks and apostasies of unfaithful Christians.

4. Take plenty of exercise. Attend diligently on all means of grace, public and private prayer, the Lord’s Supper, and labour with cheerfulness in the Master’s vineyard. Again, therefore, I ask the question of the text: “Art thou in health, my brother?” If honesty obliges you to answer no, then let me implore you to lose no time in seeking for the Good Physician. Cry aloud, this day, to the Good Physician: “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Thou Son of David!” The virtue which goes forth from Him is no mere temporary palliative. Jesus not only comforts, but He cures. Wilt thou be made whole? Look to Christ Jesus to do it for you. (J. N. Norton.)

Health of body in moral state

The lesson of this close interaction of mind and body is that we should put the whole treatment of the body on a moral basis. De Quincey closes the section dealing with health of his treatise on casuistry with some strong words, which have added weight from his own mistakes in dealing with himself: “Casuistry, justly and without infringing any truth of Christianity, urges the care of health as the basis of all moral action, because, in fact, of all voluntary action. Every impulse of bad health jars or untunes some string in the fine harp of human volition, and, because a man cannot be a moral being but in proportion of his free agency, therefore it is clear that no man can be in a high sense moral, except in so far as through health he commands his bodily powers, and is not commanded by them.” (Hugh Black, M. A.)

Wanton abuse of health

Health is the sum of money in the bank which will support you, economically spent. But you spend foolishly and draw on the principal. This diminishes the income, and you draw the oftener and the larger drafts until you become bankrupt. Overeating, overworking, every imprudence is a draft on life which health cashes and changes at a thousand per cent and interest. Every abuse of health hastens death. (F. G. Welch, M. D.)

10 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.

CLARKE, "In the fifth rib - I believe חמש chomesh, which we render here and

elsewhere the fifth rib, means any part of the abdominal region. The Septuagint

translate it την�ψοαν, the groin; the Targum, the right side of the thigh, i.e., (the

phrase of the Targumist being interpreted), the privy parts. That it means some part of the abdominal region, is evident from what follows, And shed out his bowels to the

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ground. It appears from this that, in plain English, he ripped up his belly.

GILL, "But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand,.... In his left hand, for with his right hand he took him by the beard; he might see the sword drop out of the scabbard, and Joab take it up, which he supposed he did in order to put it into its sheath again, having no suspicion of his wicked design, and therefore not at all upon his guard to prevent it:

so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib; in the same place where Abner smote Asahel, and Joab Abner; See Gill on 2Sa_2:23 and See Gill on 2Sa_3:27, he must strike him, as some observe, on the left side, because he was embracing him; and the stroke must be deadly, because he struck him in the pericardium, which surrounds the heart round with water, to refrigerate it; for the lower part of the heart reaches to the fifth rib; see Joh_19:34 (u):

and shed out his bowels to the ground; which fell out through the incision made by the sword:

and struck him not again: he gave him such a home thrust, there was no need to repeat it, he dispatched him at once:

and he died; and thus, though he was pardoned by David, and promoted to honour by him, yet the providence of God would not suffer him to go unpunished for joining with Absalom in an unnatural rebellion against his uncle:

so Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri: for Amasa being slain, Joab without any ceremony reassumed his post as general, and, with his brother Abishai under him, made all the haste they could in pursuit of the rebel.

JAMISON, "2Sa_20:10-13. Amasa is slain.

smote him ... in the fifth rib — the seat of the liver and bowels, where wounds are mortal.

struck him not again — that is, dispatched him at the first blow.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:10. And he bowed the heavens—a picture of the low-hanging storm-clouds, at whose approach the heaven seems to bend down to the earth. Comp. Psalm 144:5; Isaiah 63:19.—And came down, the descent of the Lord from heaven to earth to execute judgment on David’s enemies, and deliver him. On the indication of God’s coming to judgment by His “descent from heaven,” comp. Genesis 11:7; Genesis 18:21; Isaiah 64:1.—And cloud-darkness under His feet, i.e., He thus descended. The dark, black cloud[FN13] (= darkness, 2 Samuel 22:12) is the symbol of the terror that the wrath of God carries with it; see Exodus 19:16 [Sinai]; 2 Samuel 20:21; Deuteronomy 5:19; Psalm 104:29 (a figure of the hiding of God’s face); Nahum 1:3 (“clouds are the dust of his feet”).

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11 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared [4] on the wings of the wind.

BARNES, "He that favoreth Joab ... - This speech, addressed to Amasa’s followers as well as Joab’s, shows very distinctly that the rivalry between Joab and Amasa, and David’s purpose to make Amasa captain in Joab’s room, were well known; and shows also the real reason why Joab killed Amasa. What is added, “and he that is for David,” was intended to identify Joab’s cause with David’s, and also to insinuate that Amasa had not been loyal to David (2Sa_20:5 note).

CLARKE, "He that favoureth Joab - As if he had said, There is now no other commander besides Joab; and Joab is steadily attached to David: let those therefore who are loyal follow Joab.

GILL, "And one of Joab's men stood by him,.... By the body of Amasa; no doubt by the order of Joab, to satisfy the people as they came up, and reconcile them to this fact, and to exhort them not to stop, but to follow after Joab; for though Amasa their general was dead, Joab had taken the command of the army, and the pursuit was carried on with as much rigour as ever:

and said, he that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab: he that likes Joab should be general, and is in the interest of David, let him make no stay here, but follow after Joab; Joab and David are put together, as if their interests were the same; though there seems to be an indecency in placing Joab first.

HENRY, "IV. Joab immediately resumes his general's place, and takes care to lead the army on in pursuit of Sheba, that, if possible, he might prevent any prejudice to the common cause by what he had done. 1. He leaves one of his men to make proclamation to the forces that were coming up that they were still engaged in David's cause, but under Joab's command, 2Sa_20:11. He knew what an interest he had in the soldiery, and how many favoured him rather than Amasa, who had been a traitor, was now a turn-coat, and had never been successful; on this he boldly relied, and called them all to follow him. What man of Judah would not be for his old king and his old general? But one would wonder with what face a murderer could pursue a traitor; and how, under such a heavy load of guilt, he had courage to enter upon danger. Surely his conscience was seared with a hot iron

JAMISON 11-13, "He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab — It is a striking proof of Joab’s unrivalled influence over the army, that with this villainous murder perpetrated before their eyes they unanimously followed him as their leader in pursuit of Sheba. A soldier conjoined his name with David’s, and such a magic spell was in the word “Joab,” that all the people

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“went on” - Amasa’s men as well as the rest. The conjunction of these two names is very significant. It shows that the one could not afford to do without the other -neither Joab to rebel against David, nor David to get rid of Joab, though hating him.

ELLICOTT, "(11) He was seen.—Psalms 18, “he did fly.” The two words are exceedingly alike in the Hebrew, and either could easily be mistaken for the other. The form in the psalm is far more poetical.

K&D, "2Sa_20:11

One of Joab's attendants remained standing by him (Amasa), no doubt at Joab's command, and said to the people who came thither, i.e., to the men of Judah who were collected together by Amasa (vid., 2Sa_20:4), “He that favoureth Joab, and he that (is) for David, let him (go) after Joab,” i.e., follow him to battle against Sheba.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:11. And he rode on the cherub and flew.—As to the signification of the cherub, see on 1 Samuel 4:4. As the cherubim on the cover of the ark ( Exodus 25:18 sqq.; Exodus 37:7 sqq.) are the bearers of the divine majesty and glory ( 2 Samuel 6:2; 2 Kings 19:15; Psalm 80:2, 1]; Psalm 99:1; Isaiah 37:16), so here also the cherub is the symbol of God’s almighty power and glory, as it appears in the creaturely world, and exhibits itself as the revelation of the highest and completest being (Winer, R-W, s. v., Hengst. on Psalm 18:11, 10]). The “rode” is defined by the “flew.” The conception of flying is harmonized with that of riding on the cherub (as a chariot or throne) by the wings with which the cherub is provided.—And appeared on the wings of the wind; this, as the preceding, sets forth the majesty in which God appears in the creation in the elementary substratum of the wind, to hold judgment. Comp. Isaiah 5:28; Nahum 1:3 : “in tempest and storm is his way,” and Psalm 104:3, where, instead of the cherub, the clouds are conceived of as the vehicle, and the wings of the wind as the bearers of the appearance of His glory.—Instead of “appeared” Psalm 18:11, 10] has “flew” (דאה). The latter (which occurs also Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 48:40; Jeremiah 49:22) carries out the figure of the wings of the wind; here, on the contrary, our “appeared” Isaiah, if not an elucidation (Keil, v. Leng.), a real statement instead of a poetical figure. But there is no necessity for regarding it as a scribal error (Stier, Thenius), or as a “vague, flat and inappropriate reading” (Hupfeld).

PULPIT 11-13, "In 2 Samuel 6:2 Jehovah is described as sitting upon the cherubim; his presence there, called by the rabbins his Shechinah, that is, dwelling, being indicated by a cloud of light. In this psalm the cherub is his chariot, on which he rides forth to judgment. He was seen. There can be little doubt that the right reading is preserved in Psalms 18:10, where we find a verb signifying the swooping down of a bird of prey upon its quarry (Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 48:40). The two words differ only in the substitution of r for d, and these letters are so similar in Hebrew that they are constantly interchanged. Booths; made of branches of trees, and forming a temporary abode. So the dark storm clouds are gathered round the Almighty to veil his awful form from sight as he goes forth for judgment. Gathering of waters; probably the right reading, instead of which in the psalm we find "dark waters." The gathering of waters would describe the massing of the rain clouds. The difference here also consists only in one letter. Out of the brightness, which closely surrounds the Deity in the midst of the black mass of the tempest, the lightning flashes forth. This brightness is the Shechinah (see above), to which St. Paul also refers where he says that

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God's dwelling is in "the unapproachable light" (1 Timothy 6:16).

12 He made darkness his canopy around him-the dark [5] rain clouds of the sky.

BARNES, "All the people ... - i. e., the levies which Amanda had been leading to Jerusalem; they were irresolute as to what they should do, and the stoppage at Amasa’s body very nearly led to their refusing to follow Joab. But upon the prompt removal and hiding of the body they passed on and followed Joab, their old captain.

CLARKE, "Amasa wallowed in blood - It is very likely that Amasa did not immediately die; I have known instances of persons living several hours after their bowels had been shed out.

GILL, "And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway,.... By which it seems, that though the wound was mortal, and of which he died, that as yet there was life in him, and through the pain he was in, and the pangs of death on him, he rolled himself about in his own blood in the high road, where the fact was committed:

and when the man saw that all the people stood still; gazing at the shocking sight, and could not be prevailed upon to go on:

he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field; which was adjoining to it:

and cast a cloth upon him; that the body might not be seen:

when he saw that everyone that came by him stood still; and so retarded the people in their march, to prevent which he took the above method, and it was a very prudent one.

HENRY, ". 2. care is taken to remove the dead body out of the way, because at that they made a stand (as 2Sa_2:23), and to cover it with a cloth, 2Sa_20:12, 2Sa_20:13. Wicked men think themselves safe in their wickedness if they can but conceal it from the eye of the world: if it be hidden, it is with them as if it were never done. But the covering of blood with a cloth cannot stop its cry in God's ear for vengeance, or make it the less loud. However, since this was no time to arraign Joab for what he had done, and the common safety called for expedition, it was prudent to remove that which retarded the march of the army; and then they all went on after Joab, while David, who no doubt had notice soon brought him of this tragedy, could not but reflect upon it with regret that he had not formerly done justice upon Joab for the death of Abner, and that he now had exposed Amasa by preferring him. And perhaps

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his conscience reminded him of his employing Joab in the murder of Uriah, which had helped to harden him in cruelty.

ELLICOTT, "(12) Made darkness pavilions.—Psalms 18, more fully, “He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters.” A word appears to have dropped out here, and in the second clause the margin, “binding (or gathering) of waters” is a more exact translation, the word differing in one letter from that used in the psalm.

K&D, "2Sa_20:12-13

Amasa lay wallowing in blood in the midst of the road; and when the man (the attendant) saw that all the people stood still (by the corpse), he turned (pushed) Amasa from the road to the field, and threw a cloth over him, whereupon they all passed by and went after Joab.

BI, "And when the man maw that all the people stood still.

Horror at sight of a slaughtered man

What unutterable, illimitable pity it seems that our horror at the corpse of a slaughtered man should not have been made just so much stronger as to render war impossible! It looks as if human nature has been within half an inch of escaping that Upas tree of all evils (Chas. Buxton.)

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:12. Development of the second half of 2 Samuel 22:10, as 2 Samuel 22:11 is of the first half. And he made darkness around him booths [Eng. A. V.: pavilions]. The clouds mass more closely; their darkness grows blacker. The “darkness” is that of the clouds of 2 Samuel 22:10 b. He makes the cloud-darkness “booths, tents” for Himself. The Psalm has more fully: “he made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.” On the “round about” comp. Psalm 97:2 (“clouds and darkness are around him”), and on the “booths [pavilions]” Job 36:29, where the clouds are called God’s tabernacle or tent.—Gathering of waters, cloud-thicket is further explanation of the “darkness” of the first clause. Instead of “gathering[FN14] of waters” the Ps. has “darkness of waters” [which is here unnecessarily adopted by Eng. A. V.—Tr.]; the former is obviously more picturesque.

13 Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth.

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GILL, "When he was removed out of the highway,.... Into the field, and covered over with a cloth, that he could not be seen:

all the people went on after Joab; made no stop at all, knowing nothing of the matter, or what had happened:

to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri; these were the troops that Amasa had been assembling, which followed one another after him; for Joab and Abishai, with their men, were at Gibeon first.

ELLICOTT, "(13) Through the brightness.—Rather, Out of the brightness. The psalm (with the same correction) is more full, and perhaps the more exact representation of the original: “Out of the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.”

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:13-15. Issuing of lightning-flashes out of this darkness, and bursting of the storm amid thunder and lightning. Out of the brightness before him burned coals of fire. The expression “brightness before him” points back to the fire in 2 Samuel 22:9, the flames of sheet-lightning as symbol of the divine anger. Out of this fiery brightness before him “burned coals of fire,” i.e., darted the flashes of lightning, which are, as it were, the sharpening of that flaming fire-anger into separate fiery arrows (comp. 2 Samuel 22:15). The “brightness before him” is not the doxa [glory] of God embracing light and fire (Hupf, Del.), because in the connection only the fire of God’s anger is spoken of, and if the singer had here had in view the light in which God dwells ( Psalm 104:2), he would necessarily have used the general term “glory” (כבוד,חוד, δόξα). The natural basis of the poetical description is the blinding brightness of the flaming fire, which in a storm seems to cleave the clouds and send forth flashes of lightning.—To this refers the deviating text of the Psalm: “from the brightness before him his clouds passed away (or went to pieces),” comp. Job 30:15.

14 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

BARNES, "Abel - More commonly called 2Sa_20:15 “Abel-Beth-maachah” to distinguish it from other places of the name of “Abel” (a grassy plain). It is represented by the modern Abil-el-Kamh, a Christian village on the northwest of lake Huleh, the ancient Merom. Compare 2Ch_16:4, “Abel-maim,” Abel by the water.

And all the Berites - What this means is utterly unknown. Many approve of the

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reading of the Latin Version, connecting it with what follows: “And all the choice young men mustered and followed him.”

CLARKE, "Unto Abel - This is supposed to have been the capital of the district called Abilene in St. Luke’s Gospel, Luk_3:1.

Beth-maachah - Is supposed to have been in the northern part of the Holy Land, on the confines of Syria, and probably in the tribe of Naphtali.

GILL, "And he went through all the tribes of Israel,.... That is, Sheba the son of Bichri, last mentioned, 2Sa_20:13, who passed through all the tribes of Israel to get as many to be of his party as he could, and to be proclaimed their king; or finding himself pursued, he passed on as fast as he could from place to place, through all the tribes, until at length he fixed for safety in a place later named; though Josephus (w)understands this of Joab pursuing Sheba through all the tribes of Israel with the forces under him; and to this sense the Syriac and Arabic versions, and so R. Isaiah interprets it; but the first sense is more generally received, that Sheba is meant, who passing through various tribes, came

unto Abel, and unto Bethmaachah; which were two places very near one another, if not one and the same place; since Abel is in 2Sa_20:15 called Abel of Bethmaachah, to distinguish it from any other place: it was a city that lay to the north of Israel near Syria; and from 2Ki_15:29, it appears to be in the tribe of Naphtali. There was one city of this name of Abel, six miles from Philadelphia, another twelve miles from Gadara, and a third between Paneas and Damascus, which, of the three, Reland thinks (x), is most eligible to be the place here meant; though he rather chooses to look for it in Galilee, to the west or south of Paneas, than to the east or north in the way to Damascus; and so Adrichomius (y) calls it a city of upper Galilee, sixty furlongs or seven and an half miles from Jordan; and though he also places it in the tribe of Naphtali, in the plain of the country of Berim (from whence perhaps were the Berites next mentioned), not far from Caesarea Philippi; see 1Ki_15:20,

and all the Berites; the inhabitants of Beeroth, in the tribe of Benjamin, of which tribe Sheba was, they followed him hither, as in the next clause:

and they were gathered together, and went also after him; unto Abel; of these, see Jos_18:25; though perhaps these Berim or Berites were nearer to Abel; or rather that was in their country, as has been observed by Adrichomius.

HENRY, "We have here the conclusion of Sheba's attempt.

I. The rebel, when he had rambled over all the tribes of Israel, and found them not so willing, upon second thoughts, to follow him, as they had been upon a sudden provocation to desert David (having only picked up a few like himself, that sided with him), at length entered Abel-Beth-maacah, a strong city in the north, in the lot of Naphtali, where we find it placed, 2Ki_15:29. Here he took shelter, whether by force or with consent does not appear; but his adherents were most Berites, of Beeroth in Benjamin, 2Sa_20:14. One bad man will find or make more.

JAMISON, "2Sa_20:14, 2Sa_20:15. Joab pursues Sheba unto Abel.

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he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel — beating up for recruits. But there the prompt marches of Joab overtook and hemmed him in by a close siege of the place.

K&D, "2Sa_20:14

But Joab “went through all the tribes of Israel to Abela, and Beth-maacah, and all Berim.” Abela (2Sa_20:15), or Abel (2Sa_20:18), has been preserved in the large Christian village of Abil, a place with ruins, and called Abil-el-Kamh on account of its excellent wheat (Kamh), which lies to the north-west of Lake Huleh, upon a Tell on the eastern side of the river Derdâra; not in Ibl-el-Hawa, a place to the north of this, upon the ridge between Merj Ayun and Wady et Teim (vid., Ritter, Erdk. xv. pp. 240, 241; Robinson, Bibl. Researches, pp. 372-3; and v. de Velde, Mem. p. 280). Beth-maacah was quite close to Abela; so that the names of the two places are connected together in 2Sa_20:15, and afterwards, as Abel-beth-maacah (vid., 1Ki_15:20, and 2Ki_15:29), also called Abel-maim in 2Ch_16:4. Berim is the name of a district which is unknown to us; and even the early translators did not know how to render it.

There is nothing, however, either in the πάντες��ν�χα��ί is the lxx or the omnes viri

electi of the Vulgate, to warrant an alteration of the text. The latter, in fact, rests upon

a mere conjecture, which is altogether unsuitable; for the subject to �הלוhו cannot be

_ל־ה�רים on account of the vav consec., but must be obtained from ישראל .�כל־שבטי

The Chethib ויקלהו is evidently a slip of the pen for �הלוhו.

ÉLLICOTT, "(14) From heaven.—Psalms 18, “in the heavens,” a difference found in the original; the two are otherwise alike in the Hebrew, except that the psalm adds the words, “hail stones and coals of fire.”

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:14. The Lord thundered from heaven. Since lightning and thunder appear so close together, the storm is very near, God’s wrathful judgment bursts on the enemy. Instead of “from heaven” the Ps. has “in heaven.” God is here called the Most High as “the all-controlling, unapproachable judge” (Del.). The “giving [uttering] his voice” is poetical designation of thunder; see Job 37:3; Psalm 29:3 sqq, comp. Exodus 9:23; Psalm 46:7, 6]; Psalm 68:34, 33]; Psalm 77:18. The phrase “hailstones and coals of fire” found in the Ps. in this verse and the preceding, is wanting here.

15 He shot arrows and scattered the enemies , bolts of lightning and routed them.

BARNES, "Cast up a bank - See the marginal references. The throwing up of mounds against the walls of besieged places by the besiegers is well illustrated in the

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Assyrian sculptures.

The trench - The “pomoerium,” or fortified space outside the wall. When the mound was planted in the pomoerium the battering engines were able to approach close to the wall to make a breach.

CLARKE, "They cast up a bank against the city - The word סללה solelah,

which we render bank, means, most probably, a battering engine of some kind, or a tower overlooking the walls, on which archers and slingers could stand and annoy the inhabitants, while others of the besiegers could proceed to sap the walls. That it cannot be a bank that stood in the trench, is evident from the circumstance thus expressed.

GILL, "And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah,.... That is, Joab and Abishai, with the forces under them, who pursued him hither:

and they cast up a bank against the city; which some understand of a warlike machine or engine, with which stones were cast; but it rather seems to be a bank of earth thrown up, for the better working of such engines to more advantage against the city, by throwing from thence darts into the city, or stones against the walls of it, to batter it down; such banks were used in sieges, as that Caesar's soldiers raised in twenty five days, which was three hundred thirty feet broad, and eighty feet high (z); Kimchi interprets this of filling up the ditches round about the city with dust and earth, and so making it level, whereby they could come the more easily to the walls and batter them, or scale them, and take the city by storm:

and it stood in the trench; the army under Joab stood where the trench round the city had been, now filled up:

and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down; with their engines, or whatever battering instruments they had; so, often, as Hesiod (a) says, a whole city suffers for one bad man.

HENRY, "II. Joab drew up all his force against the city, besieged it, battered the wall, and made it almost ready for a general storm, 2Sa_20:15. Justly is that place attacked with all this fury which dares harbour a traitor; nor will that heart fare better which indulges those rebellious lusts that will not have Christ to reign over them.

III. A discreet good woman of the city of Abel brings this matter, by her prudent management, to a good issue, so as to satisfy Joab and yet save the city. Here is,

1. Her treaty with Joab, and her capitulation with him, by which he is engaged to raise the siege, upon condition that Sheba be delivered up. It seems, none of all the men of Abel, none of the elders or magistrates, offered to treat with Joab, no, not when they were reduced to the last extremity. They were stupid and unconcerned for the public safety, or they stood in awe of Sheba, or they despaired of gaining any good terms with Joab, or they had not sense enough to manage the treaty. But this one woman and her wisdom saved the city. Souls know no difference of sexes. Though the man be the head, it does not therefore follow that he has the monopoly of the brains, and therefore he ought not, by any salique law, to have the monopoly of

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the crown. Many a masculine heart, and more than masculine, has been found in a female breast; nor is the treasure of wisdom the less valuable for being lodged in the weaker vessel. In the treaty between this nameless heroine and Joab,

JAMISON, "Abel of Beth-maachah — a verdant place - the addition of “Maachah” betokening that it belonged to the district Maachah, which lay far up the Jordan at the foot of Lebanon.

K&D, "2Sa_20:15

They besieged him (Sheba) in Abel-beth-maacah, and piled up a rampart against

the city, so that it rose up by the town-moat the moat with the low wall ,חל)

belonging to it); and all the people with Joab destroyed to throw down the wall.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:15. And he sent out arrows; the Ps. has: “his arrows.” These are the flashes of lightning (comp 2 Sa77:18) into which the foe-destroying fire of wrath concentrates and sharpens itself. The wrathful, punishing God is represented under the figure of a warrior armed with bow and arrows, as in many other passages, Psalm 7:13-14, 12, 13]; 2 Samuel 38:3, 2); Job 6:4; Deuteronomy 32:23; Lamentations 3:12-13.—And scattered them, that Isaiah, the enemies, comp. 2 Samuel 22:4; 2 Samuel 22:18. The pronoun “them” does not refer to the arrows and lightning. The first effect is the scattering of the compact masses, into which the enemies had thrown themselves. Lightning, and discomfited (them). The Ps. has: “and lightnings much (innumerable)” [Eng. A. V. (with Kimchi) “shot out lightnings”]. The verb here is to be supplied from the preceding, as in 2 Samuel 22:12; 2 Samuel 22:14; 2 Samuel 22:42. “He discomfited” (so Jerome); the Ps. has: “and discomfited them,” from which the Qeri [margin] omits[FN15] the suffix “them.” The further effect of the Lord’s interference is the complete destruction of the enemy; comp. Exodus 14:24; Exodus 23:27; Joshua 10:10; Judges 4:15; 1 Samuel 7:10.

16 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD , at the blast of breath from his nostrils.

GILL, "And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. See Gill on Psa_18:15.

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HENRY, "(1.) She gains his audience and attention, 2Sa_20:16, 2Sa_20:17. We may suppose it was the first time he had ever treated with a woman in martial affairs.

ELLICOTT, "(16) Of the sea.—Psalms 18, “of waters.” There are several such slight differences between 2 Samuel 22:15-16, and the parallel verses in the psalm, which mark the two as distinctly different recensions. The most striking change is that of the last pronoun from “his” to “thy in the psalm, as appropriate to its use in public worship.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:16. And the beds[FN16] of the sea became visible. The Ps. has the weaker expression: “brooks of water.” Uncovered were the foundations of the earth,[FN17] that Isaiah, the bottom of the sea, the waters being blown away; a parallel description to the preceding. In addition to the thunder and lightning from above comes the storm-wind (which accompanies the storm) and the earthquake, which has already been pictured ( 2 Samuel 22:8) as an effect of God’s anger. By the rebuking of the Lord, that Isaiah, the expression of anger in the voice of the thunder ( 2 Samuel 22:14); comp. Psalm 104:7, where the waters of the chaos are affrighted at the rebuke of God (parallel to His thunder-voice). At the snorting of the breath of his nose, comp. 2 Samuel 22:9. The Psalm has the second person, turning in sudden address to Jehovah: “at thy rebuke and thy anger.” The “breakers of death” and the “streams of evil” have, according to 2 Samuel 22:5 overwhelmed David. Under the image of water-waves he has there depicted the dangers that threatened his life. This alone would prevent our supposing that we have here a mere poetic-hyperbolical delineation of the tumult of the waters as result of the storm, in order to fill out the picture (Hupf.). But the following account ( 2 Samuel 22:17) of deliverance “out of great waters” is still more opposed to this view. In his distress David was overwhelmed as by mighty water-floods. The Lord, revealing His anger against his enemies, saves him by laying bare the depths of the sea in which he had sunk, and uncovering the foundations of the earth by the storm-wind of His wrath (so Delitzsch). Thither descending from on high the Lord seized him and drew him forth from the waves, as is described in the following verses. There is therefore as little ground for the view of Hitzig, that the waves denote the host of the enemy, and the bottom the ground on which they stood and from which they were driven, as for that of Thenius, that the assumed battle was near a large inland sea (he conjectures the Bahr el Atebe near Damascus, about as large as the sea of Gennesaret), and that the description is thus to be taken “almost literally.” The interpretation of the “foundations of the earth” as Sheol (Hengst, Keil) is without support in the text.

17 "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

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GILL, "He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters.See Gill on Psa_18:16.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:17-20. After the description of the descent of God from heaven to save, David now traces the deliverance itself, and praises the Lord for it.

2 Samuel 22:17. “He sent forth,” the word “hand” ( Psalm 144:7) is to be supplied, as in 2 Samuel 6:6; Psalm 57:4, 3]= He reached out from on high, that Isaiah, from heaven. In spite of the “came down” of 2 Samuel 22:10, which refers to God’s throne in heaven, the poetical view holds fast to the conception of God’s elevation above men. “He drew me out of many waters.” The verb (משה) occurs elsewhere only in Exodus 2:10 of Moses, whose name is formed[FN18] from it, and whose deliverance from the waters of the Nile is here probably alluded to. Luther: “he made a Moses of me.” The “many waters” [better in Erdmann’s translation: “great waters”—Tr.] are not enemies, but the deadly perils that had befallen him, comp. 2 Samuel 22:5; Psalm 32:6; Psalm 66:12; Psalm 69:2-3, 1, 2]; Isaiah 43:2, where water is a figure of great distress and danger.

PETT 17-20, "David then remembers back to how YHWH had ‘sent from on High’, and drawn him out of the trials that seemed to be engulfing him. His strong enemy had been primarily Saul and his courtiers, who had hated him, and had appeared to be too mighty for him. And he had perhaps often asked himself, ‘what was he that he should constantly oppose the king?’ And each time their coming on him had been calamitous to him. But he had overcome because YHWH had been his stay. And YHWH had always brought him out into a large place, the place of deliverance. And He had done it because He had delighted in him. Thus all that he now enjoyed he owed to YHWH and His elective goodness and love. David was very conscious of YHWH’s love for him, a love which he full reciprocated (except during bad periods).

PULPIT 17-20, "In the midst of this fearful convulsion of nature, while all around are stricken with panic, David sees a hand stretched out from above, ready to deliver him from the overwhelming flood of hatred and peril. Attacked me. The word does not signify "to prevent," or" anticipate," but "to assail" So in 2 Samuel 22:6, "The snares of death assailed me;" and in Isaiah 37:33, "The King of Assyria shall not attack this city with shield." It is the same verb in all these places. Staff; in the Authorized Version, "stay." But it means something to lean upon, and is rightly translated "staff" in Psalms 23:4. A wide place; in opposition to the straits of affliction. He had pleasure in me. In 2 Samuel 15:26 this confidence is gone, and David doubts whether the favour of Jehovah had not been forfeited by him.

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18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

GILL, "He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. See Gill on Psa_18:17.

HENRY 18-19, "(2.) She reasons with him on behalf of her city, and very ingeniously. [1.] That it was a city famous for wisdom (2Sa_20:18), as we translate it. She pleads that this city had been long in such reputation for prudent knowing men that it was the common referee of the country, and all agreed to abide by the award of its elders. Their sentence was an oracle; let them be consulted and the matter is ended, all sides will acquiesce. Now shall such a city as this be laid in ashes and never treated with? [2.] That the inhabitants were generally peaceable and faithful in Israel, 2Sa_20:19. She could speak, not for herself only, but for all those whose cause she pleaded, that they were not of turbulent and seditious spirits, but of known fidelity to their prince and peaceableness with their fellow-subjects; they were neither seditious nor litigious. [3.] That it was a mother in Israel, a guide and nurse to the towns and country about; and that it was a part of the inheritance of the Lord, a city of Israelites, not of heathen; and the destruction of it would lessen and weaken that nation which God had chosen for his heritage. [4.] That they expected him to offer them peace before he made an attack upon the, according to that known law of war, Deu_20:10. So the margin reads (2Sa_20:18): They plainly spoke in the beginning(of the siege), saying, Surely they will ask of Abel, that is, “The besiegers will demand the traitor, and will ask us to surrender him; and if they do, we will soon come to an agreement, and so end the matter.” Thus she tacitly upbraids Joab for not offering them peace, but hopes it is not too late to beg it.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:18. Here David first passes from his perils to his enemies. He delivered me from my enemy, the strong[FN19] one. “The song here passes from the epic to a more lyric tone, and direct discourse takes the place of figurative” (Del.). The Sing. “my enemy” does not justify the supposition of an individual enemy, but from the following “my haters” is to be taken as collective, though the name Saul rightly stands as superscription to this whole picture of distress. Because they were stronger[FN20] than I, had overpowered me. God’s saving interposition was necessary, since David in his weakness felt himself overpowered by his enemies—extreme impotence requires divine help.

19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

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but the LORD was my support.

GILL, "They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. See Gill on Psa_18:18.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:19. Elucidation of the last words of 2 Samuel 22:18. They fell on[FN21] me in the day of my calamity. This is not a definite day, but the time of his helplessness in the Sauline persecution; their purpose was to finish him by a sudden attack, and so self-help was impossible. And the Lord became a stay to me. After deliverance comes support.[FN22] Compare for the thought Psalm 23:4.

PINK, "The second section of David’s song glides so smoothly into the third that there is scarcely a perceptible break between them: in the one he recounts the Lord’s gracious deliverances of him his numerous and relentless enemies; in the other he states the reasons why He had intervened on his behalf. A Few more words now on the closing verses of the former: "He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters; He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: For they were too strong for me" (2 Sam. 22:17,18). Here he Freely ascribes unto God the glory of his deliverances: extolling His goodness, power, faithfulness, and sufficiency. If God be for us, it matters not who be against us. Torrents of evil shall not drown the one whose God sitteth upon the floods to restrain their Fury. He has but to speak and the winds are calmed, the downpour ceases, and the floods subside; true alike physically and morally.

"They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay" (v. 19). This is a parenthetical statement between verses 18 and 20, wherein the writer refers to the determined efforts of his foes to prevent his escape and insure his destruction. "When David had framed any plan for secreting or securing himself in the day of his calamity, his enemies employed every method of treachery and malice to prevent his success. Thus the men of Keilah were ready to deliver him to Saul (1 Sam. 23:7-12) and the Ziphites repeatedly informed of him (1 Sam. 26:1, 2): and therefore, notwithstanding his own prudence and activity, he must have been cut off if the Lord Himself had not protected him by His own immediate and extraordinary interpositions" (Thomas Scott). "But (blessed "but!") the Lord was my stay": his support, the One on whom he rested—nor was his confidence disappointed. When the enemy rages most fiercely against us, then is the time to lean most heavily upon the everlasting arms.

"He brought me forth also into a large place: He delivered me, because He delighted in me" (v. 20). It is here that the third division of this inspired song really begins, the main purpose of which is to vindicate David, by showing that he had done nothing to provoke or deserve the fierce attacks which had been made upon him; and to affirm that God had acted in righteousness in Favoring him with deliverance. But before taking up this leading thought, let us observe

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and admire the ways of the Lord. God does not leave His work half done, for after He has defeated the foe, He leads the captive out into liberty. After pining for years in the prison, Joseph was advanced to the palace; from the cave of Adullam, David was elevated to the throne. This illustrates and exemplifies a most important and blessed principle in the dealings of God with His people, and when laid hold of by faith and hope it affords unspeakable comfort to the oppressed and despondent.

The prison ever precedes the palace in true spiritual experience, not only at our first awakening, but repeatedly throughout the Christian life. The soul is shut up in confinement, before it is brought forth "into a large place." The spirit of bondage is experienced before we receive the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry "Abba, Father" (Rom. 8:15). Our frail craft is made to battle long against the angry waves, before the Lord appears for our relief (Matthew 14:22-33). Bear this steadily in mind, dear reader, while you are passing through the day of calamity: "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you, will complete it . . ." (Phil. 1:6). Enlargement of spirit will be the more appreciated after a season of sorrowful confinement. Remember, then, that Joseph did not die in prison, nor did David end his days in the cave of Adullam: "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Sometimes we are granted a foretaste of that joy even in this vale of tears; but even if we are not, all weeping shall end when the night is over.

Once again we would remind ourselves that the antitypical David must be kept before us as we pass from verse to verse of this song, for the experiences of the members is identical with those which were endured by the Head of the mystical Body. Christ too could say, "They prevented Me in the day of My calamity: but the Lord was My stay" (v. 19). Never forget that the Redeemer Himself passed through a day of calamity: why, then, should the redeemed think it a strange thing if they too encounter the same? He was beset by merciless foes: His liberty was taken away when they arrested Him: He was buffeted and scourged—sufficient, then, for the disciple to be as his Master. O that we also may be able to say with Him "but the Lord was My stay." Yes, He too could say, "He brought Me forth also into a large place: He delivered Me, because He delighted in Me." Yes, He was delivered from the grave, removed from this earth, and given the position of honour and glory at God’s right hand; and this, because God delighted in Him: Isaiah 42:1.

Nevertheless, it is a great mistake to confine our attention, as some have done, to the antitypical David in this passage. For example, in his comments upon this portion of David’s song, C. H. M. said, "These verses (21-25) prove that in this entire song, we have a greater than David. David could not say ‘The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands did He recompense me.’ How different is this language from that of Psalm 51. There it is ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies.’ This was suitable language for a fallen sinner, as David felt himself to be. He dare not speak of his righteousness, which was as filthy rags; and as to his recompense, he felt that the Lake of Fire was all that he could in justice claim upon the ground of what he was. Hence, therefore, the language of our chapter is the language of Christ, who

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alone could use it" (The Life and Times of David, King of Israel).

Such confusion of thought is really inexcusable in one who posed as a teacher of preachers, and who was so fond of criticizing and condemning the expositions of servants of God which issued from pulpits in what he dubbed the "sects" and "systems" of Christendom. One might just as well affirm that "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith" (2 Tim. 4:7) is "the language of Christ, who alone could use it." And then add "how different is the language of Paul in Philippians 3," "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ" (vv. 7-9). The simple fact is that the apostle was speaking from two radically different viewpoints in those respective passages: in Philippians 3 he defines the ground of his acceptance before God, whereas in 2 Timothy 4 he refers to his ministerial fidelity. It was thus with David: in Psalm 51 he states the basis on which he sought God’s forgiveness; in 2 Samuel 22:21-25 he relates his innocence in connection with his enemies.

We hardly expect one who belonged to the religious school that Mr. Mackintosh did, to be capable of drawing theological distinctions, but we are surprised to find such an able exegete as Alexander Maclaren erring on this same point. He too failed to grasp the Psalmist’s scope or object in the passage which we are now considering, as is clear from his remarks thereon in his otherwise helpful work on "The Life of David as reflected in his Psalms." It was his mistaking of the purport of these verses (20-25—repeated in substance in Psalm 18:19-24) which caused him to argue that this song (and Psalm) must have been written before his awful sin in connection with Uriah: "The marked assertion of his own purity, as well as the triumphant tone of the whole, neither of which characteristics correspond to the sad and shaded years after his fall, point in the same direction" (p. 154).

"He brought me forth also into a large place: He delivered me, because He delighted in me." The "large place" is in designed contrast from the cramped confinement of the eaves in which David had been obliged to dwell when his enemies were so hotly pursuing him: it may also refer to the vast extent of his dominions and the great riches he was blest with. God not only preserved, but prospered him, granting him liberty and enlargement. The Lord not only displayed His power on behalf of His servant, but also manifested His particular favor toward him: this is intimated in "He delivered me, because He delighted in me," which signifies that God acted not from His general providence, but from His covenant love. Should it be asked, How would David know this? The answer is, by the communications of divine grace and comfort in his soul which accompanied the deliverances, and by the communion he had with God in them.

"The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me" (v. 21). It seems strange that these words have perplexed anyone with a spiritual mind, for if they be not strained beyond their original and obvious intention, there is nothing in them to occasion any difficulty. Let them be read in the light of their context, and they

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are plain and simple. David was alluding to God’s delivering of him from Goliath and Saul, and from others of his foes: what had been his conduct toward them? Had he committed any serious crimes which warranted their hostility? Had he grievously wronged any of them? Had they justly or unjustly sought his life? His own brother preferred a charge against him (1 Sam. 17:28) just before he engaged Goliath, and from several of the Psalms there seems to be good ground for concluding that Saul accused him of pride, covetousness and treachery. But what real basis was there for such? Read the record of David’s life, and where is there a hint that he coveted the throne or hated Saul?

No, the fact of the matter is that David was entirely innocent of any evil designs against any of those who persecuted him. Further proof of this is found in one of his prayers to God: "Let not them that are mine enemies wrong fully rejoice over me, neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause (Ps. 35:19). It was because he had neither given his enemies just cause for their persecution, and because so far from retaliating, he had borne them no malice, that he enjoyed the testimony of a good conscience. David’s character had been grievously maligned and many hideous things laid to his charge; but his conduct had been upright and conscientious to an uncommon degree. "In all his persecutions by Saul, he would not injure him or his party; nay, he employed every opportunity to serve the cause of Israel, though rewarded by envy, treachery and ingratitude" (Thomas Scott). When maligned and oppressed by men, it is an inestimable consolation to have the assurance of our own hearts of our innocence and integrity, and therefore we should spare no pains in exercising ourselves "to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and men" (Acts 24:14).

In saying "The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness" David enunciated one of the principles operative in the divine government of this world. "Albeit that the dispensations of divine grace are to the fullest degree sovereign and irrespective of human merit, yet in the dealings of Providence there is often discernible a rule of justice by which the injured are at length avenged and the righteous ultimately delivered" (C. H. Spurgeon). That statement manifests an intelligent grasp of the viewpoint from which David was writing, namely, the governmental ways of God in time, and not the ground upon which He saves eternally. These declarations of the Psalmist had nothing whatever to do with his justification in the high court of heaven, but concerned the innocency and integrity of his conduct toward his enemies on earth, because of which God delivered him from them.

"For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not departed from my God" (v. 22). We regard David as continuing to refer unto how he had conducted himself during the time that his life had been in danger. Certainly his language here is not to be taken absolutely, nor even as a relative declaration upon his life as a whole. Notwithstanding the provocations he received from Saul, and later from Absalom, and notwithstanding the efforts which we doubt not Satan made at such seasons to make him question God’s goodness and faithfulness, tempting him to cast off allegiance to Him, David persevered in the paths of righteousness and refused to apostatize. The Psalms written by him at these trying periods of his life make it unmistakably clear that David’s piety waned not, despite the most

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aggravating circumstances.

"For all His judgments were before me: and as for His statutes, I did not depart from them" (v. 23). "His conscience witnessed to him that he had ever made the Word of God his rule, and had kept to it. Wherever he was, God’s judgments were before him, and his guide; whithersoever he went, he took his religion along with him; and though he was forced to depart from his country, and sent, as it were, to serve other gods, yet, as for God’s statutes, he did not depart from them, but kept the way of the Lord and walked in it" (Matthew Henry). This was sure evidence of the genuineness of his piety. It is comparatively easy to discharge the external duties of religion while we are at home, surrounded by those likeminded, but the real test of our sincerity comes when we go abroad and sojourn among a people who make no profession. David not only worshiped God while he abode at Jerusalem, but also while he tarried in the land of the Philistines.

"I was also upright before Him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity" (v. 24). This declaration manifestly clinches the interpretation we have made of the preceding verses: in them he had referred solely to his conduct unto his enemies

which conduct has been strictly regulated by the divine statutes: particularly had he heeded "thou shalt not kill" when Saul was entirely at his mercy. Now he appeals to God Himself, and declares that in His sight too he had acted blamelessly toward his foes. "Sincerity is here claimed; sincerity, such as would be accounted genuine before the bar of God. Whatever evil men might think of him, David felt that he had the good opinion of God" (C. H. Spurgeon). Various explanations have been given of "mine iniquity"; but in the light of the context, we regard the reference as king to David’s refusal to slay Saul when in his power.

"Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in His eyesight" (v. 25). They greatly err who suppose that David here gave vent to a boastful spirit: he was pleading his innocency before the bar of human equity. A man is not guilty of pride in knowing that he is truthful, honest, merciful; no, nor when he believes that God rewards him in providence because of these virtues, for such is a most evident matter of fact. Yea, so patent is this, that many of the ungodly recognize that honesty is the best policy for this life. It would he self-righteousness to transfer such thoughts from the realm of providential government into the spiritual and everlasting kingdom, for there grace reigns not only supreme, but alone, in the distribution of divine favors. A godly man with a clear conscience, who knows himself to be upright, is not required to deny his consciousness, and hypocritically make himself out to be worse than he is.

Having shown how the above verses may be understood, relatively, of David himself, let us briefly point out how they applied to Christ without any qualification. "I have kept the ways of the Lord": when tempted to forsake them, He indignantly cried, "get thee hence, Satan." "And have not wickedly departed from My God": "Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" (John 8:46) was His challenge to His enemies. "For all His judgments were before Me": "I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me" (John 17:8) He affirmed. "I was also upright before Him": "I do always those things that please Him" (John

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8:29) was His declaration. "And have kept Myself from Mine iniquity": so far from slaying those who come to arrest, He healed one of them (Luke 22:51). "Therefore the Lord hath recompensed Me according to My righteousness": "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows" (Ps. 45:7) is the Spirit’s confirmation.

"With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful, and with the upright man Thou wilt show Thyself upright But Thine eyes are upon the haughty, that Thou mayest bring them down" (vv. 26-28). These verses announced a general principle in God’s government of this world: we say "general," for God exercises His sovereign discretion in the actual application of it. If on the one hand we are told that some of the Old Testament heroes of faith "quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword," etc., yet we also read "others had trial of cruel mockings . . . were stoned," etc. (Heb. 11:36-37). The Baptist was beheaded and Stephen stoned, yet Peter and Paul were miraculously delivered from their enemies until they had served long and well.

20 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

GILL, "He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me,

because he delighted in me. See Gill on Psa_18:19.

HENRY, "(3.) Joab and Abel's advocate soon agree that Sheba's head shall be the ransom of the city. Joab, though in a personal quarrel he had lately swallowed up and destroyed Amasa, yet, when he acts as a general, will by no means bear the imputation of delighting in bloodshed: “Far be it from me that I should delight to swallow up or destroy, or design it but when it is necessary for the public safety, 2Sa_20:20. The matter is not so. Our quarrel is not with your city; we would hazard our lives for its protection. Our quarrel is only with the traitor that is harboured among you; deliver him up, and we have done.” A great deal of mischief would be prevented if contending parties would but understand one another. The city obstinately holds out, believing Joab aims at its ruin. Joab furiously attacks it, believing the citizens all confederates with Sheba. Whereas both were mistaken; let both sides be undeceived, and the matter is soon accommodated. The single condition of peace is the surrender of the traitor. It is so in God's dealing with the soul, when it is besieged by conviction and distress: sin is the traitor; the beloved lust is the rebel; part with that, cast away the transgression, and all shall be well. No peace on any other terms. Our wise woman immediately agrees to the proposal: Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee presently.

2. Her treaty with the citizens. She went to them in her wisdom (and perhaps she

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had as much need of it in dealing with them as in dealing with Joab) and persuaded them to cut off Sheba's head, probably by some public order of their government, and it was thrown over the wall to Joab. He knew the traitor's face, and therefore looked no further, intending not that any of his adherents should suffer. The public safety was secured, and he felt no wish to gratify the public revenge. Joab hereupon raised the siege, and marched back to Jerusalem, with the trophies rather of peace than victory.

HAWKER, "(20) He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

There is a great beauty in this verse, in that it clearly traces the cause, of divine favour; not to the circumstance of common providence, but to covenant love, to distinguishing grace, and mercy. Sweet thought! Who hath saved us, and called us, (saith Paul) with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, given us in CHRIST JESUS before the world began. 2 Timothy 1:9.

LANGE, "Verse20. And he brought me forth into a large place, into a condition of freedom,[FN23] in contrast with narrowness, straits. The “me”[FN24] is emphatic. The words: He delivered me, here in conclusion embrace all that has been heretofore said of the process of deliverance. Observe the progression in the description up to this point: the dispersion and confounding of the enemy by the arrows of the lightning, the driving off of the water-waves and laying bare of their foundations by the storm; then the stretching forth of the hand, seizing, drawing out of the great waters, supporting the helpless Prayer of Manasseh, bringing him out of straits into freeness, and thus completing the deliverance.—For He delighted in me—the ground of the Lord’s deliverance, over against the enemies, on whom had come God’s wrath and judgment. This delight of the Lord in Him ( Psalm 22:9, 8]; 2 Samuel 41:12, 11]) is based on his integrity, as is brought out in what follows. There follows, namely.

21 "The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

GILL, "The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. See Gill on Psa_18:20.

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HENRY, "

JAMISON, "

HAWKER, "Verses 21-25

(21) The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. (22) For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. (23) For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. (24) I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. (25) Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.

I desire the Reader particularly to observe how he reads those verses, in order that he may have a clear apprehension of David's meaning, in what be saith in them. He is here stating the ground of his innocency, as it related to his conduct towards his neighbor, and particularly as it referred to Saul. The title of the Psalm saith as much, that David spoke these words in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. And, as far as his history informs us with respect to his conduct towards Saul, his whole behaviour was such that he might plead his innocency. So that when accused by men he could plead to GOD. But Reader! do not from hence imagine that David meant here, or in any other part of his life, that the LORD rewarded him according to his righteousness or, the cleanness of his hands, in the sight of GOD. Alas! David was so conscious of his sins, that he cries out, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O LORD , for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. We may with humbleness of soul, ascribing at the same time the whole glory to GOD for the grace bestowed upon us in enabling us to perform it; we may bless GOD when we can appeal to him concerning our integrity between man and man; but with respect to our whole lives before GOD, every saint on earth must lay his hand upon his mouth, and say with Job, If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul. Job 9:20-21. Reader! do mark this down in the memorandums of thy heart. Depend upon it, it is a solemn thing for a poor sinner, though looking up for acceptance and justification in the person and righteousness of JESUS, to stand before GOD.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:21. The declaration and avowal that God in saving him requited him according to his righteousness. The verb[FN25] [Eng. A. V.: “reward”] (comp. Psalm 7:17 [ Psalm 7:16]) signifies to do something to a person, whether bad or good, but with reference to his conduct as ground, hence to requite.—Accordding to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.—The hands are the instrument of action, and “cleanness of hands” signifies the purity of his actions from sin and unrighteousness. Comp. 2 Samuel 22:25; Psalm 7:5 [ Psalm 7:4]; Psalm 24:4; Psalm 26:6; Job 9:30; Job 22:30. To this answers purity of mind (expressed in the “upright” of 2 Samuel 22:24), as source of purity of conduct. David often thus affirms his uprightness, for Exodus 17:3-5.

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The truth of this testimony to himself is exhibited in his actual conduct as described in 2 Samuel 22:22-24, where he gives the ground (כי) for the declaration that he is “righteous” and “his hands clean.”—[On the ethical and religious significance of this claim to righteousness, see “Historical and Theological” to this chapter, paragraph6.—Tr.]

PETT 21-25, "Many see these words as indicating a time before David had sinned in respect to Bathsheba and Uriah, and they ask how could he otherwise speak of the cleanness of his hands and of himself as not having departed from his God and as having kept himself from his iniquity? And it may possibly be so. But perhaps such thinking ignores the wonder of full forgiveness. How many of us constantly bring to mind our past, forgiven sins? Surely we do not, and should not. We have put them behind us, because God has put them behind Him (Isaiah 38:17). Many of us have sinned deeply in the past in different ways, but having been forgiven, we have rightly learned to accept forgiveness, and forget our forgiven sins and put them out of our memories. Having repented and been forgiven we have rightly seen ourselves as starting afresh on the way of righteousness. That may equally have been true of David here. He knew that his sins had been atoned for and forgiven.

For David is not representing himself here as having never sinned, but as having deliberately turned his back on his sins to follow YHWH’s will. Having truly repented of the past he sees himself as having had his hands made clean (‘cleanness (bor) of hands’ is a figure describing moral purity in terms of the practise of washing the hands with soda (bor)), and as having constantly kept the way of YHWH and as not having wickedly departed from Him, and that as an attitude of current daily life. Forgiveness often makes us more sensitive of sin, not less, and more determined to put it behind us, and that very forgiveness makes us aware that we have been made clean. His point is thus rather that his eyes are now fixed on YHWH’s commands so that he will not depart from His statutes, and will thus keep himself from iniquity. Indeed he recognises that YHWH has not recompensed him as he deserved, but as a forgiven sinner now seeking to do the right. And it is because of that determination to hunger and thirst after righteousness with all his heart that he has been made clean, and is therefore acceptable in God’s sight. This view of the matter finds confirmation in the next phrase where he emphasises the great mercy of God.

PULPIT 21-25, "It is impossible to suppose that these verses could have been written after David's fall. For while be acknowledges in them a tendency to sin, he affirms that he had been on his guard against it, and that he had ever kept God's statutes present before his view. However complete may be the penitent's recovery, yet can he never again be "perfect," the word applied to an animal without blemish, and therefore fit for sacrifice. The crime remains a blemish, even though the intense sorrow for the sin may make it the means of even attaining to a higher stage of spirituality and devotion. In 2 Samuel 22:22 the words literally are, "I have not sinned away from God," sin necessarily removing the sinner away from that nearness to God which is the privilege of the saint.

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K&D, "�מל signifies to do to a person good or evil, like the Greek ε� and κακ�ς�

πράττειν�τινά. The righteousness and cleanness of hands, i.e., the innocence, which

David attributed to himself, were not perfect righteousness or holiness before God, but the righteousness of his endeavours and deeds as contrasted with the unrighteousness and wickedness of his adversaries and pursuers, and consisted in the fact that he endeavoured earnestly and sincerely to walk in the ways of God and

to keep the divine commandments. מן to be wicked from, is a pregnant ,רשע

expression, signifying to depart wickedly from God. לנג�י, i.e., as a standard before my

eye. In the psalm we find ע�ו לו innocent in intercourse with the Lord, instead of ,תמים

תמים (see Deu_18:13); and for the fact itself, David's own testimony in 1Sa_26:23-24,

the testimony of God concerning him in 1Ki_14:8, and the testimony of history in

1Ki_15:5. מעוני, from mine iniquity, i.e., from the iniquity which I might have

committed.

22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD ; I have not done evil by turning from my God.

GILL, "For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. See Gill on Psa_18:21.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:22. He proved his righteousness by the affirmation: I have kept the ways of the Lord. “Have observed, held to,” so Job 22:15. “The ways of the Lord” are the rules of human conduct given in His law, which David’s enemies had wickedly transgressed.—And have not wickedly departed from my God, as he has kept God’s ways, so he has not sinned himself away from God Himself. The phrase is literally: “to be wicked from God,” that Isaiah, to fall away from God by wickedness. Not (as Grotius): “to be wicked against (מן) God,” nor is it a designation of judgment or decision proceeding from God, as if the sense were: “I have not sinned according to God’s decision, according to His judgment I am guiltless” (Hupf.); comp. Job 4:17; Jeremiah 51:5. Against this is both the “keeping the Lord’s ways” in the first member, to which corresponds “not departing from” the Lord, and the following reference [ 2 Samuel 22:23] to his abiding in God’s statutes and judgments.

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23 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.

GILL, "For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. See Gill on Psa_18:22.

HENRY 23-26, "Here is an account of the state of David's court after his restoration. Joab retained the office of general, being too great to be displaced. Benaiah, as before, was captain of the guards. Here is one new office erected, which we had not (2Sa_8:16-18), that of treasurer, or one over the tribute, for it was not till towards the latter end of his time that David began to raise taxes. Adoram was long in this office, but it cost him his life at last, 1Ki_12:18.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:23. “For[FN26] all thy judgments are before me,” that Isaiah, as a guide in my ways.—And His statutes, I do not depart from them.[FN27] The reading of the Psalm: “His statutes I do not put away from me,” is not elsewhere found, while our text is the usual expression for the conception. For the thought compare the divine testimony to David, 1 Kings 14:8 : “who kept my commandments, and walked after me with all his heart,” and 2 Samuel 15:5; “David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and departed not from all that He commanded him.” Comp. also David’s testimony concerning himself, 1 Samuel 26:23 sq.

ELLICOTT, "(23) His statutes, I did not depart from them.—The psalm, by a very slight change in the original, has “I did not put away his statutes from me.” The former is the more common form, the latter suits better the parallelism here.

24 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.

GILL, "I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. See Gill on Psa_18:23.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:24. “And I was upright[FN28] towards him,” that Isaiah, upright in soul, the “towards him” (לו) expressing the immediate relation to God, in contrast with outward works, which are done for one’s own sake or for men’s. The “with him” of the Psalm expresses still more exactly cordial communion of

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life with God.—And guarded myself from my iniquity, the negative side of his moral character, of which he has just given the positive side: “I guarded against committing a sin, and so contracting guilt.” A similar hypothetical expression [i. e, if I sinned, I should be guilty] is found in Psalm 17:3 (Hupfeld), and so essentially Job 33:9 : “there is no iniquity in me.” David declares that he constantly watches over and restrains himself; otherwise, the assumption Isaiah, he would have fallen into sin; this is an indirect testimony to indwelling sinfulness, whereby he might have been led to sinful deed, and against which such self-guarding was necessary. Comp. Psalm 51:7, 5], where David expressly declares his consciousness of sinfulness inborn in him, which is not the case here.—The historical proofs of David’s declaration of purity are given in * 1 Samuel 2426. though he at this moment may not have had all the individual facts in mind.

25 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness [6] in his sight.

GILL, "Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight. See Gill on Psa_18:24.

K&D 25-28, "The motive for deliverance, which was expounded in 2Sa_22:21-24, is summed up briefly in 2Sa_22:25; and then in 2Sa_22:26 and 2Sa_22:27 it is carried back to the general truth, that the conduct of God towards men is regulated

according to the conduct of men towards God. The vav cons. in שבhו expresses the

logical consequence. ברי_ is used instead of ידי _בר in 2Sa_22:21, which is repeated in

the psalm simply for the sake of variation. The truth that God treats every man in accordance with his conduct towards Him, is expounded in four parallel clauses, in which the conduct of God is expressed in verbs in the Hithpael, formed from the

adjectives used to describe the conduct of men towards God. To the חסיד, the pious or

devoted to God, He also shows himself pious; and innocent, blameless, to the תמים

a Niphal ,נבר .the man strong in innocence, who walks in perfect innocence ,��ור

participle, from �רר, he who keeps himself pure, strives after purity of walk. בר]], an

anomalous contraction of ת�רר] (Ps.), analogous to the formation of נבר for נברר. The

form �ל]] for ת�[ל], to show one's self perverse of crooked, is still more anomalous.

God shows himself so towards the perverse, by giving him up to his perverseness (Rom_1:28). This general truth is applied in 2Sa_22:28 to the congregation of God,

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in the contrast which it presents of humble and haughty, and is expounded from the conduct of God, as displayed in the history of Israel, towards these two classes of

men, into which the nation was divided. In the psalm, therefore, we find ה]g for ,_י

which the simple ו is substituted here, because the verse does not contain any actual

reason for what goes before. עני afflicted people, is used to denote the pious and ,עם

depressed in the nation; רמים, the high, i.e., the haughty, or godless rich and mighty

in the nation. ש�יל] is to be taken as a relative: whom Thou humblest (see Ewald, §

332, b.; and for the thought, Isa_2:11). In the psalm the unusual mode of expression in the second clause is changed into the more common phrase, “Thou bringest down high, i.e., proud looks” (cf. Pro_6:17; Pro_21:4; Pro_30:13; Psa_131:1, etc.).

ELLICOTT, "(25) To my cleanness.—Psalms 18, more poetically. “to the cleanness of my hands.”

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:25. Repetition of the affirmation of 2 Samuel 22:21 (the proof of his “righteousness” and “cleanness of hands” having been given in 2 Samuel 22:22-24) in the form of a logical conclusion: And so the Lord requited me, etc. Literally: “and requited me the Lord,” where the “and,” connecting this with the preceding, indicates a logical relation [the logical relation is indicated by the progress of the discourse, not by the Conjunction, in Hebrew or in Eng.—Tr.]. Instead of “my cleanness” the Psalm has “the cleanness of my hands,” as in 2 Samuel 22:21.

26 "To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

GILL, "With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright. See Gill on Psa_18:25.

HENRY, " For all good people, 2Sa_22:26-28. As God had dealt with him according to his uprightness, so he will with all others. He takes occasion here to lay down the established rules of God's procedure with the children of men: -

(1.) That he will do good to those that are upright in their hearts. As we are found towards God, he will be found towards us. [1.] God's mercy and grace will be the joy of those that are merciful and gracious. Even the merciful need mercy; and they shall obtain it. [2.] God's uprightness, his justice and faithfulness, will be the joy of those that are upright, just, and faithful, both towards God and man. [3.] God's purity and holiness will be the joy of those that are pure and holy, who therefore give thanks at the remembrance thereof. And, if any of these good people be afflicted people, he will save them, either out of their afflictions or by and after them. On the other hand,

(2.) That those who turn aside to crooked ways he will lead forth with the workers of iniquity, as he says in another psalm. With the froward he will wrestle; and those

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with whom God wrestles are sure to be foiled. Woe unto him that strives with his Maker! God will walk contrary to those that walk contrary to him and be displeased with those that are displeased with him. As for the haughty, his eyes are upon them, marking them out, as it were, to be brought down; for he resists the proud.

HAWKER, "(26) With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright. (27) With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.

To a true believer in CHRIST, GOD'S righteousness is as dear and precious as his mercy, or his love; because he sees in JESUS, as the GOD-man, that righteousness fully glorified, and grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life. So that to the pure all things are pure, Titus 1:15.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:26-27. General proposition, explaining and supporting the word: “the Lord requited me” by the truth, that God deports Himself to man as man to Him. This moral relation between God and man is carried out in four parallel members, “in which the divine conduct is expressed by reflexive verbs, formed from the adjectives expressing human conduct.” (Keil). The Imperfects express what is universal and necessary. The general truth that the manifestation of God’s retributive righteousness is conditioned by man’s position and conduct towards God, is set forth positively in 2 Samuel 22:26-27 a in relation to the pious, and negatively in 2 Samuel 22:27 b in relation to the ungodly. Towards the pious [better: merciful—Tr.], upright and clean, God shows Himself pious [merciful], upright and pure. The adjectives express qualities[FN29] of man in relation to God; the “love” here expressed is not towards Prayer of Manasseh, but towards God, (חסיד, Eng. A. V. merciful), and to such God shows Himself loving. [Rather the adjectives express general qualities without any statement that they refer only to God. The first of these adjectives means either “favored, beloved” or “merciful,” and the latter sense is more appropriate here.—Tr.].—Towards the perverse thou showest thyself perverse, that Isaiah, requiting to the perverse man perverse things as the consequence of his sin, thou seemest to Him to be thyself perverse. The ungodly Prayer of Manasseh, failing to recognize his own sin, thinks of God as unjust and cruel towards him. Comp. Leviticus 26:23-24; “if ye walk perversely towards me; I will walk perversely towards you.” Moral perversity in man produces perversity and confusion in his knowledge of God. [The thought here, however, is simply that God does evil to the man that does evil.—Tr.].

PETT 26-28, "David recognises that it is a settled principle of the spiritual life that men will reap what they sow. Those who are merciful, will find mercy from God (compare Matthew 5:7). This statement suggests in itself how aware David was that he had especially received the mercy of God. Those who are truly developed in righteousness will discover that God’s righteousness is fully developed towards them, so that He acts towards them as the Righteous One.. Those who are pure will discover that God deals with them purely, and reveals

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His utter dependability and integrity.

In contrast those who are wayward will never be sure how God will deal with them. He will appear to be as ‘wayward’ in His dealings with them as they are with Him. This is the contrary side to God’s reciprocation. Not for David the idea that God will overlook sin in all. To him those who are wayward in respect of God’s ways must expect God to behave waywardly with them (Leviticus 26:23-24; Isaiah 29:9-12; Proverbs 3:34). And while He will certainly save those who are afflicted, He will also bring down those who are haughty. For He seeks always those who are of a humble and contrite spirit (Isaiah 57:15). David wants us all to recognise that God is responsive to what we are, and acts towards us as we act towards others, and that he therefore deals hardly with those who fail to walk in His ways. It is a general principle of the spiritual life. This is the normal way of things.

27 to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

GILL, "With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself unsavoury. See Gill on Psa_18:26.

ELLICOTT, "(27) Unsavoury.—Rather, froward, for although the form here is anomalous, it is the same word, and has the same reference to the previous word as in the psalm.

28 You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.

GILL, "And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down. See Gill on Psa_18:27.

ELLICOTT, "(28) Thine eyes are upon the haughty.—More briefly, but in more common form, the psalm, “wilt bring down high looks.”

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HAWKER, "(28) And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.

This is a sweet verse. The eyes of the LORD are to humble the proud, to raise up the afflicted. Reader! think of this in your thoughts of JESUS.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:28 gives the ground and confirmation of the general truth in 2 Samuel 22:26-27, by pointing to God’s actual conduct towards the two principal classes in the people, the humble and the proud, who represent concretely the preceding contrast between the upright (merciful, pure) and the perverse. The factual relation of this verse to the preceding is indicated in the Psalm by the initial “for thou,” while here the simple “and” is used, in order to avoid a too frequent recurrence of the causal conjunction, as 2 Samuel 22:29 begins with “for thou,” and 2 Samuel 22:30 with “for.” The word “people”[FN30] is here limited (by the contrast with the “haughty” of the following clause) to a large community within the nation, characterized by the epithet “afflicted;” and the following contrast shows that they are also “humble.” “Thine eyes are against the haughty,” who oppress the poor and afflicted; “whom thou bringest down” (the verb is to be taken as relative, Ew. § 332 b, comp. Joshua 2:11; Joshua 3:12; Joshua 5:15). The Psalm has in the second member: “lofty eyes (elevated eye-brows, sign of haughtiness) thou bringest down.” Comp. Proverbs 6:17; Proverbs 21:4; Proverbs 30:13; Psalm 101:5.

29 You are my lamp, O LORD ; the LORD turns my darkness into light.

GILL, "For thou art my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness. See Gill on Psa_18:28.

K&D, "2Sa_22:29 commences the description of the help which David had already received from God in his conflict with the enemies of Israel, and which he would still receive.

ELLICOTT, "(29) Thou art my lamp.—Comp. Psalms 27:1. The psalm changes the figure, “thou wilt light my candle (margin, lamp).” With this comp. Psalms 132:17; 1 Kings 11:36; 1 Kings 15:4.

HAWKER, "Verse 29-30

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(29) For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness. (30) For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

It is delightful to make improvement of JESUS upon all occasions, as the soul wants him. Amos I in distress, he will be my Comforter. Amos I in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. Amos I shut up and cannot get out; by JESUS's arm I shall leap over the wall. Reader! depend upon it, that it is the great secret of religion to know how to use the LORD JESUS for all things, and to consider our wants, be they what they may, as only affording the better opportunity for the communication of his fulness.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:29-46. Second part of the description of the help that David received from the Lord, namely, in wars against external enemies.—Looking back at these wars, he tells how through the Lord’s help he had overcome his enemies. But he looks also to the present and to the future, declaring what the Lord, after such aid, still is to him and ever will be. So in this section occur verbs of past, present and future times.

2 Samuel 22:29. First, he declares what the Lord (in connection with the exhibitions of grace in the Sauline persecution) is for him perpetually. The “for” attaches this verse as the ground or confirmation of the preceding, where David included himself among the “afflicted people,” the oppressed; the Lord has helped him “the afflicted one” out of the affliction brought on him by his enemies. All these experiences of divine help find their reason or ground in the fact that the Lord is his lamp.[FN31] While “light” is always the symbol of good fortune and well-being ( Job 18:5), the burning lamp denotes the source of lasting happiness and joyful strength; Job 18:6; Job 21:17; Job 29:3; Psalm 132:17; comp. Isaiah 42:3; Isaiah 43:17. The Psalm has the unusual expression: “thou makest light my lamp.”—What the lamp is for a man in his house, the source of joy and good fortune, this the Lord is for David: his lamp, the source of his well-being. This is the ground of David’s being called ( 2 Samuel 21:17) the lamp of Israel. This is the ground of the declaration: “the Lord is my light.” ( Psalm 27:1). The consequence of this is: The Lord enlightens my darkness. Darkness is the symbol of affliction—in contrast with light, without God, his lamp, he would have remained in wretchedness and ruin. His experiences are based on the general truth: it is the Lord who, as His lamp, makes even the darkness light about Him. Comp. Job 29:3. In the Psalm: “The Lord, my God, makes my darkness light.” This general declaration, proved by the past, is confirmed also for the future by setting forth the foe-conquering might which Hebrews, through the Lord’s help, has shown and will forever be able to show.

PETT, "2 Samuel 22:29-30

“For you are my lamp, O YHWH,

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And YHWH will lighten my darkness.

For by you I run upon a troop,

By my God do I leap over a wall.”

And because his heart is towards God with a desire to do His will David sees YHWH as his lamp Who will show him the way in which he must go. And the consequence of that is that he is confident that He will lighten his darkness, and show him the way forward. It is because God lights his way that he can successfully attack a troop, and can equally successfully leap over the walls of a resisting city. The twofold thought here is of success in warfare. He had not chosen warfare but it had been forced on him by YHWH. And he knew that his success in that warfare had also been of YHWH. To ‘run on a troop’ is to race at them, and then chase, attack and defeat them, as he had done with the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30), to leap over a wall described his taking of cities like the Jebusite city of Jerusalem. Such walls were no hindrance to him. He, as it were, simply leapt over them. And it was because YHWH was with him. He gave all the glory for his success to God.

PINK, "In this song David is celebrating the wondrous deliverances from his many enemies which he had experienced by the goodness and power of Jehovah. But unless we carefully bear in mind his particular viewpoint therein, we shall utterly fail to contemplate those experiences in their proper perspective. David was not here furnishing an outline of his entire history, but instead, confines himself to one particular phase thereof. Because they lay outside his present scope, he says nothing about his own sad failures and falls, rather does he restrict himself to what the Lord had wrought for and by him. There are

passages, many of them, both in the historical books, and in the Psalms, wherein we hear him confessing his sins and bewailing his transgressions; but in this song he recounts his victories over and vanquishing of his foes, not by his own prowess, but by divine enablement.

In what has just been pointed out there is a most important lesson for the believer to

take to heart. If there be times (as there certainly are) when the Christian may feelingly

appropriate to his own use the mournful language of Psalm 38 and the abasing

confessions of Psalm 51, it is equally true that there are times when he should employ

the triumphant tones of Psalm 18, which is almost identical with 2 Samuel 22. In other

words, if there be occasions when the saint can only sigh and groan, there are also

seasons when he should sing and celebrate his triumphs, for David has left us an

example of the one as truly as he has of the other. Nor should such singing be limited

to the days of our "first love," the joy of our espousal. This song was composed by

David in his declining years: as he reviewed his checkered career, despite his own

failings and falls, he perceived how, after all, he was "more than conqueror through

Him that loved him" (Rom. 8:37).

If on the one hand there be a large class of Satan-deceived professors who are fond of

trumpeting forth their own achievements and of advertising their fancied victories

over sin, there is on the other hand a considerable proportion of the Lord’s people who

are so occupied with their downfalls and defeats, that they are sadly remiss in

recounting the Lord’s triumphs in them and by them. This ought not to be: it is

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robbing the Lord of that which is His due; it is a morbidity which causes them to lose

all sense of proportion; it conveys to others an erroneous conception of the Christian

life. It is a false humility which shuts our eyes to the workings of divine grace within

us. It is the presence and exercise of a true humility that takes notice of our successes

and conquests so long as it is careful to lay all the trophies of them at the Lord’s feet,

and ascribe to Him alone the honor and glory of the same.

Let those who are engaged in fighting the good fight of faith remember that this is not

the work of a day, but the task of a lifetime. Now in a protracted war success does not

uniformly attend the efforts of that side which is ultimately victorious. Far from it. It

usually falls out that many a minor skirmish is lost; yea, and sometimes a major one

too, before the issue is finally determined. At times, even the main army may have to

fall back before the fierce onslaughts of the enemy. There are severe losses, and

disappointments, heavy sacrifices, the receiving of many wounds, before success is

ultimately achieved. Why do we forget these well known facts when it comes to our

spiritual warfare? They apply with equal force thereto. Even under the inspired

leadership of Joshua, Israel did not conquer and capture Canaan in a day, nor in a

year; nor without drinking the bitters of defeat as well as tasting the sweets of victory.

We are well aware that one of the principal hindrances against our rendering to God

the praise which is His due, for the victories He has given us over our enemies, is a

sense of present defeat. But if we are to wait till that be removed, we shall have to

wait till we reach heaven before we sing this song, and obviously that is wrong, for it

is recorded for us to use here on earth. Ah, says the desponding reader: others may use

it, but it is not suitable to such a sorry failure as I am; it would be a mockery for me to

praise God for my triumphs over the enemy. Not so fast, dear friend: ponder these

questions. Are you not still out of hell?—many of your former companions are not!

Though perhaps tempted to do so, has Satan succeeded in causing you to totally

apostatize from God?—he has many others! Have you been deceived and carried away

by fatal errors?—millions have! Then what cause have you to thank God for such

deliverances!

As the believer carefully reviews the whole of his career, while on the one hand he

finds much to be humbled at in himself, yet on the other hand he discerns not a little

to be elated over in the Lord. Thus it was with David. Though there had been tragic

failures, there were also blessed successes, and it was these he celebrated in this song.

After affirming that God had acted righteously in favoring him as He had (vv. 20-28),

the purely personal tone is again resumed and he bursts forth into joyful strains of

praise. The leading difference between the second half of this song from its first is

easily ascertained by attention to its details: in the former David dwells on God’s

delivering him from his enemies (see vv. 3-17), in the latter half he recounts his

victories over his enemies: in each the glory is ascribed alone to Jehovah. In the first

David was passive—God’s arm alone was his deliverance; in the second he is active,

the conquering king, whose arm is strengthened for victory by God.

"For Thou art my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness" (2 Sam.

22:29). This is the verse which links together the two halves of the song. At first sight

the force of its connection is not too apparent, yet a little reflection will ascertain its

general bearing. David’s path had been both a difficult and a dangerous one. At times

it was so intricate and perplexing, he had been quite unable to see whither it was

leading. More than once the shadows had been so dark that he had been quite at a loss

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to discern what lay ahead. Once and again there had been much which tended to cast a

heavy gloom upon David’s soul, but the Lord had graciously relieved the tension,

supplying cheer in the blackest hour. It is to be remembered that with the Orientals the

"lamp" is used for comfort as much as for illumination—many of them will stint

themselves of food in order to buy oil; which helps us to understand the figure here

used.

"For Thou art my lamp, O Lord." This is the grand recourse of the believer in seasons

of trial: he can turn unto One to whom the poor worldling is a total stranger; nor will

he turn to Him in vain, for God is "a very present help in trouble." It is then that the

oppressed and depressed saint proves Him to be "the Father of mercies and the God of

all comfort" (2 Cor. 1:3). Though his night be not turned into day, yet the welcome

radiance of God’s countenance affords such cheer as to sustain the trembling heart in

the loneliest and saddest hour. In the cave of Adullam, in the hold of Rephaim, in the

fastnesses of Mahanaim, the Lord had been his solace and support; and now that old

age drew near, David could bear witness "Thou art my lamp, O Lord." And is not this

the testimony of both writer and reader? Have we not abundant cause to witness to the

same glorious fact!

"And the Lord will lighten my darkness." This was the language of faith and hope: He

who had so often done this for David in the past, would not fail him in the future. No

matter how dense the gloom would be, there should be a break in the clouds. That

which is incomprehensible to the natural man is often made intelligible to the

spiritual. That loss of health, financial disaster, or family bereavement: yes, but "the

secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." Divine providence is often a

mysterious deep, but God is his own interpreter, and He will make plain what before

was obscure. Particularly is this the case with the believer’s being plagued so fiercely

and so frequently by his enemies. Why should his peace be so rudely disturbed, his joy

dampened, his hopes shattered? Why should the conflict so often go against him and

humiliating defeat be his portion? Here too we can confidently affirm "the Lord will

lighten my darkness": if not now, in the hereafter.

"For by Thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall" (v.

30). Occurring as they do in the second half of this Psalm, we do not (as some) regard

these words as referring to David’s escapes from his enemies, but to his vanquishing

of them. It was not that he was almost surrounded by hostile forces and then managed

to find a loophole, or that he was driven into some stockade and then climbed over it;

rather that he successfully attacked them. Instead of picturing the difficulties from

which David extricated himself, we consider this verse portrays his foes as occupying

two different positions: in the open field, sheltering behind some battlement; and his

prevailing over them in each case. The leading thought seems to be that the Christian

warrior must expect to have a taste of every form of fighting, for at times he is

required to take the offensive, as well as the defensive. A "troop" of difficulties may

impede his progress, a "wall" of opposition obstruct his success: by divine enablement

he is to master both.

"As for God, His way is perfect" (v. 31). What a glorious testimony was this from one

who had been so severely tried by His adverse providences! Severely as he had been

buffeted, rough as was the path he often had to tread, David had not a word of

criticism to make against God for the way He had dealt with him; so far from it, he

vindicated and magnified Him. What a resting-place it is for the heart to be assured

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that all the divine actions are regulated by unerring wisdom and righteousness, infinite

goodness and patience, inflexible justice and tender mercy. "The Word of the Lord is

tried" like silver refined in the furnace. Tens of thousands of His people have, in all

ages and circumstances, tested and proved the sufficiency of God’s Word for

themselves: they have found its doctrine satisfying to the soul, its precepts to be their

best interests to follow, its promises absolutely reliable. "He is a buckler to all them

that trust in Him" (v. 31): the covenant-keeping Jehovah is a sure Shield of protection

to His warring people.

"For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock, save our God?" (v. 32). There is

none to be compared with Him, for there is none like unto Him: all others worshiped

as deities are but counterfeits and pretenders. "Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among

the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"

(Ex. 15:11). Who else save the living and true God creates, sustains, and governs all

creatures? He is perfect in every attribute, excellent in every action. The opening "for"

may be connected both with verse 30 and verse 31: "by my God have I leaped over a

wall," for there is none else enables like Him; "He is a buckler to all that trust in

Him," for He, and He alone, is reliable. Where can lasting hopes be fixed? Where is

real strength to be found? Where is refuge to be obtained? In the Rock of Ages, for He

is immovable and immutable, steadfast and strong.

"God is my strength and power: and He maketh my way perfect" (v. 33). by Him

David had been energized and enabled, upheld and preserved, both as a pilgrim and as

a warrior. How often the Christian soldier has grown weary and faint, when fresh

vigor was imparted: "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." How

often the task before us seemed impossible, the difficulties insurmountable, when

such might was ours that we mounted up with wings as eagles and ran and were not

weary. Nor can we take any credit for this to ourselves: God Himself is our strength

and power, both physically and spiritually. "He maketh my way perfect," by which we

understood David to mean that his course had been successful. There is a real sense in

which each believer may make these words his own: because his steps are ordered by

the Lord and because his path shineth more and more unto the "perfect day."

"He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet; and setteth me upon my high places" (v. 34). "As

hinds climb the craggy rocks and stand firm upon the slippery summit of the

precipice, so David had been upheld in the most slippery paths and advanced to his

present elevated station by the providence and grace of God" (Thomas Scott). The feet

of certain animals are specially designed and adapted to tricky and treacherous

ground. A threefold line of thought is suggested by the figure of this verse. First, God

fits the believer for the position which He has appointed him to occupy, no matter

how honorable and hazardous. Second, God furnishes him with alacrity and agility

when the King’s business requireth haste, for speed as well as sureness of foot

characterizes the hind. Third, God protects and secures him in the most dangerous

places: "He will keep the feet of His saints" (1 Sam. 2:9).

"He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms" (v. 35).

Whatever skill he possessed in the use of weapons, David, gratefully ascribed it unto

divine instruction. The general principle here is of wide application: the artisan, the

musician, the housewife, should thankfully acknowledge that it is God who has

imparted dexterity to his or her fingers. In its higher significance this verse has

reference to divine wisdom being imparted to the Christian warrior in the use of the

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armor which grace has provided for him. As it is in the natural, so it is in the spiritual:

weapons, whether the offensive or defensive ones, are of little avail to us till we know

how to employ them to advantage. "Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye

may be able to withstand in the evil day" (Eph. 6:13) not only means appropriate to

yourself the panoply which God furnished, but also look to Him for guidance and help

in the use of the same. The second half of our verse seems to indicate that David, like

Samson, was at times endued with more than ordinary strength.

"Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation" (v. 36). Here we find David

looking higher than the material and temporal blessings which God had so freely

granted him, to those special favors reserved for His own elect. There are common

gifts of Providence bestowed upon the wicked and the righteous alike, but there are

riches of grace communicated only to the high favorites of heaven, that infinitely

surpass the former. What are bodily deliverances worth if the soul be left to perish!

What does protection from human foes amount to, if the devil be permitted to bring

about our eternal destruction! David was not only granted the former, but the latter

also. Here is a plain hint that we should seek after the higher meaning throughout this

song and interpret spiritually. Let it be noted that this is not the only place in it where

God’s "salvation" is referred to: see verses 47, 51.

"And Thy gentleness hath made me great" (v. 36). The Hebrew word which is here

rendered "gentleness," is one or considerable latitude and has been variously

translated. The Septuagint has "Thy discipline," or Fatherly chastening; another gives

"Thy goodness," referring to the benevolence of God’s actions; still another, and more

literally, "Thy condescension." They all amount to much the same thing. This

acknowledgment of David’s is blessed: so far was he from complaining at the divine

providences and charging God with having dealt with him harshly, he extols God’s

perfections for the pains that bad been taken with him. David owns that God had acted

toward him like a tender parent, tempering the rod with infinite patience; he affirmed

that God had graciously sanctified his afflictions to him. Though he had been raised

from the sheepcote to the throne and had become great in prosperity and power, a

successful conqueror and ruler, he fails not to give God all the glory for it.

30 With your help I can advance against a troop [7] ; with my God I can scale a wall.

GILL, "For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall. See Gill on Psa_18:29.

K&D, "In the strength of his God he could run hostile troops and leap walls, i.e.,

overcome every hostile power. רוץl, not from רצץ, to smash in pieces, but from רוץ, to

run; construed with the accusative according to the analogy of verbs of motion.

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31 "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

GILL, "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he isa buckler to all them that trust in him. See Gill on Psa_18:30.

K&D, "He derives this confidence from the acts of God, and also from His word.

האל (God) is written absolutely, like ה�ור in Deu_32:4. The article points back to

Jehovah is the .�אלהי God (האל), whose way is perfect, without blemish; and His word

is refined brass, pure silver (cf. Psa_12:7). He who trusts in Him is safe from all foes. The last two clauses occur again in Agur's proverbs (Pro_30:5). The thought of the last clause is still further explained in 2Sa_22:32.

SBC, "2 Samuel 22:31

No. 1

The way of God may mean: (1) the way which He prescribes, the simple, absolute way of holy duty into which He seeks to guide the soul; or (2) the way which He Himself pursues, the method of His dealings with His children, humanity, and the world.

I. Consider first our knowledge of the way of God. (1) There is a light in man—call it the practical reason, the conscience, the moral sense, or what you will—which, even in a fallen state, is capable of furnishing to man certain broad lines of duty which will be coincident mainly with the ways of God. (2) God sent His word to reinforce conscience and to inspire it to be a guide. (3) God is a Person; and in Christ, the express image of His person, we may talk to Him as a friend to a friend.

II. Notice the ways of man with which David had had opportunity to compare the perfect way of God. (1) The way of passion; (2) the way of pride; (3) the way of the world.

III. Notice the reason of the perfectness of God’s way as the way of a soul. (1) It stands square with the possibilities, constitution, convictions, and needs of our being; (2) with the laws and orders of the great universe; (3) with the fact of eternity.

No. 2

I. The way of God is perfect in that grand order of the universe which He has established and maintains.

II. In the order and progress which, as Lord of men, He secures in the human world; in the discipline and education of individual souls. The leading principles of His way are: (1) To establish a strong attraction; (2) to leave that principle to develop itself and have control of the whole nature and of the world by struggle; (3) to make it learn, by extreme severities of discipline if need be, patience, power, and knowledge

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of a fitness for Himself.

J. Baldwin Brown, The Perfect Way of God: Two Discourses.

HAWKER, "Verses 31-46

(31) As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him. (32) For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God? (33) God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect. (34) He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places. (35) He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. (36) Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great. (37) Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip. (38) I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them. (39) And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet. (40) For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me. (41) Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. (42) They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. (43) Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad. (44) Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me. (45) Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me. (46) Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.

I beg the Reader in the perusal of these verses to keep his eye close to the mercies described, and his heart closer still to the view of David's referring all unto the will, and sovereignty, and goodness of GOD. He dwells largely on what the LORD had enabled him to do, and what the LORD had done for him. But he dwells much more largely on the LORD himself. Great things he speaks of the LORD's deliverances for him: but greater things of GOD himself, the GOD of his salvation. Reader! do not forget this. The LORD GOD in covenant engagements is forever doing great things for his people. But all this is designed to show us how infinitely more precious the LORD is himself. Carnal men will sometimes speak of GOD's works, for his providences are so plain and striking as to compel them to it. But gracious men sing of GOD himself. We may have other blessings from our GOD, and more gifts of his hand; but we never can have another JESUS. CHRIST is all and in all.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:31. The word “God” is in apposition with the: “with my God” in 2 Samuel 22:30 (as in 2 Samuel 22:33; 2 Samuel 22:48), not nominative Absolute [so Eng. A. V.], since then the Art. [Heb.: the God] would be unexplained: The God whose way is blameless, that Isaiah, whose government is perfect. This human quality of perfectness is transferred to God, and denotes His trustworthiness. The word of the Lord is purified, that Isaiah, without guile, pure, true, comp. Psalm 12:7, 6]. God’s promises do not deceive. He is a shield to

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all that trust in Him. He offers sure protection against all dangers. The second and third members of this verse occur word for word also in Proverbs 30:5. All these affirmations respecting God give the ground for the declaration in 2 Samuel 22:30, that he can do so great things in and with his God.

PETT, "2 Samuel 22:31-32

“As for God, his way is perfect,

The word of YHWH is tried,

He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.”

“For who is God, save YHWH?

And who is a rock, save our God?”

And all this relies on the fact that the way of YHWH is ideal, and the word of YHWH, is tried and tested. Both are thus fully to be relied on. Nor can we go wrong in them if we follow Him in them, for He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. Indeed the truth is that YHWH is the only God Who counts for anything, and as such He is the perfect and only foundational Rock for those who trust in Him. So with all his failings David’s heart was set firmly on the way of YHWH, and he trusted wholly in His upholding, and it was this that explained the greatness of his success.

32 For who is God besides the LORD ? And who is the Rock except our God?

GILL, "For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock, save our God?See Gill on Psa_18:31.

K&D 32-35,"There is no true God who can help, except or by the side of Jehovah

(cf. Deu_32:31; 1Sa_2:2). צור, as in 2Sa_22:2. This God is “my strong fortress:” for

this figure, comp. Psa_31:5 and Psa_27:1. חיל, strength, might, is construed with

עז by free subordination: “my fortress, a strong one,” like ,מעוזי מחסי (Psa_71:7; cf.

Ewald, §291, b.). י[ר for יתר, from ור] (vid., Ges. §72; Olshausen, Gram. p. 579), in the

sense of leading or taking round, as in Pro_12:26. God leads the innocent his way,

i.e., He is his leader and guide therein. The Keri �ר_י rests upon a misunderstanding.

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There is an important difference in the reading of this verse in Ps 18, viz., “The God who girdeth me with strength, and makes my way innocent.” The last clause is certainly an alteration which simplifies the meaning, and so is also the first clause, the thought of which occurs again, word for word, in 2Sa_22:40, with the addition of

hgלה .ל�לחמה or לתhg, the hind, or female stag, is a figure of speech denoting swiftness

in running. “Like the hinds:” a condensed simile for “like the hinds' feet,” such as we frequently meet with in Hebrew (vid., Ges. §144, Anm.). The reference is to swiftness

in pursuit of the foe (vid., 2Sa_2:18; 1Ch_12:8). רגליו, his feet, for רגלי (my feet) in the

psalm, may be accounted for from the fact, that David had spoken of himself in the third person as the innocent one. “My high places” were not the high places of the enemy, that became his by virtue of conquest, but the high places of his own land, which he maintained triumphantly, so that he ruled the land for them. The

expression is formed after Deu_32:13, and is imitated in Hab_3:19. ל�ד is generally

construed with a double accusative: here it is written with an accusative and ל�, and

signifies to instruct for the war. נחת, in the psalm נחתה, on account of the feminine

is not the Niphal ,זרועתי of חתת, to be broken in pieces, but the Piel of נחת, to cause to

go down, to press down the bow, i.e., to set it. The bow of brass is mentioned as being the strongest: setting such a bow would be a sign of great heroic strength. The two verses (2Sa_22:34 and 2Sa_22:35) are simply a particularizing description of the power and might with which the Lord had endowed David to enable him to conquer all his foes.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:31. The word “God” is in apposition with the: “with my God” in 2 Samuel 22:30 (as in 2 Samuel 22:33; 2 Samuel 22:48), not nominative Absolute [so Eng. A. V.], since then the Art. [Heb.: the God] would be unexplained: The God whose way is blameless, that Isaiah, whose government is perfect. This human quality of perfectness is transferred to God, and denotes His trustworthiness. The word of the Lord is purified, that Isaiah, without guile, pure, true, comp. Psalm 12:7, 6]. God’s promises do not deceive. He is a shield to all that trust in Him. He offers sure protection against all dangers. The second and third members of this verse occur word for word also in Proverbs 30:5. All these affirmations respecting God give the ground for the declaration in 2 Samuel 22:30, that he can do so great things in and with his God.

PETT 32-34, "God; Hebrew, El; the Mighty One, used several times in this psalm. In the second clause the word is Elohim, the ordinary name of God. The psalmist's question is a strong assertion that Jehovah alone is God, and that he alone is a Rock of safety for his people. He guideth, etc. In Psalms 18:32 "He maketh my way perfect," like his own. The phrase here is probably that which David wrote, as being less usual, and it signifies that God will direct the upright man in his good way. Hinds. David's feet are swift as hinds, an animal famous for its speed and sureness of foot. My high places. The tops of the mountains are the favourite resort of the antelope (2 Samuel 1:18); and so with David, the possession of such rocky citadels as Bozez and Seneh (1 Samuel 14:4) made him master of the whole country.

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33 It is God who arms me with strength [8]

and makes my way perfect.

GILL, "God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.See Gill on Psa_18:32.

ELLICOTT, "(33) God is my strength and power.—Better, my strong fortress. The psalm has quite a different thought, which is expressed in 2 Samuel 22:40, “It is God that girdeth me with strength.”

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:33 carries on the thought connected with the figure of the “rock.” The “God” here is in opposition with the “God” at the end of the preceding verse. The God who is my strong fortress. [Eng. A. V, not so well: “my strength and power.”]. On the “fortress” comp. Psalm 31:5 [ Psalm 31:4]; Psalm 27:1 [Eng. A. V.: “strength.”]. The noun “strength” defines “my fortress,” literally: “my fortress of strength,” as in Psalm 71:7[FN33]—The Psalm has: “who girds me with strength,”= 2 Samuel 22:40 a (with omission of “to battle.”).—And leads[FN34] the perfect man on his way. The pronoun on “his way” refers not to God, but to the “perfect Prayer of Manasseh,” as is required by the “his feet” [Eng. A. V.: “my feet”] of the next verse. The Psalm has: “who makes my way perfect.” [This is the marginal reading (Qeri) here also: “my way,” and seems to agree better with the context, in which the Psalmist is speaking of his own experiences.—Tr.]

PETT, 33=36, "David was aware that it was not because of his own ability and strength that he had succeeded up until now. It was because YHWH was his strong fortress, his guaranteed protection, and because YHWH always guides those whose hearts are set on doing His will in the right way, in His way. For the ‘perfect’ are those who seek to do His will and are committed to His covenant. He makes their feet stable and firm however rough the pathway, in the same way as the hind never loses her footing on even the most precipitous mountain path. Or the thought may rather be of the speed at which the hind moves, but the parallel with God as his strong fortress suggests safety, security and sure-footedness.

And it was because his heart was set on doing YHWH’s will and fulfilling His covenant, that YHWH had set him on high places and was keeping him there. All his success was to be seen as due to YHWH. It was YHWH Who taught his hands to war, and enabled him to bend a bow of bronze (the toughest of bows to bend). And it was YHWH who had given him the shield of His salvation, and Who by His gentleness towards him had made him great. It was YHWH Who had kept him, who had continually saved him and Who had made him what he

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is.

34 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.

GILL, "He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places. See Gill on Psa_18:33.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:34. He makes his feet like the hinds, that Isaiah, like hinds’ feet; Habakkuk 3:18. (On this abridged form of expression see Ges. § 144, Rem.) Hengstenberg.: “In Egyptian paintings also the hind is the symbol of fleetness.” Comp. 2 Samuel 2:18; 1 Chronicles 12:8. The Psalm: “my feet” [so Eng. A. V. here, after the margin]; the third personal pronoun is used here because the reference is to the “perfect (or innocent)” man [in 2 Samuel 22:33 according to the author’s translation]. The swiftness refers not to fleeing (De Wette), but to the pursuit of enemies. And on my high-places He sets me. The “high-places” are not those of the enemy, which he ascends as victor, and through faith declares beforehand to be his own (Hengst.), but “those of his own land, which he victoriously holds against his enemies” (Keil). Comp. Deuteronomy 32:13

35 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

GILL, "He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. See Gill on Psa_18:34.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:35. He instructs my hands for war[FN35] and my arms bend the bronze bow. Or, perhaps (with Hupf.): “He instructs my hands for war, and my arms to bend[FN36] the bronze bow.” “The Egyptian weapons were almost all of bronze” (Hengst.). To bend the bronze[FN37] bow is the sign of great strength; the thought expressed is: God has given him not only skill, but also strength for victorious war.

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36 You give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great.

GILL, "Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great. See Gill on Psa_18:35.

K&D 36-37, "The Lord bestows the true strength for victory in His salvation. The shield of salvation is the shield which consists of salvation, of the helping grace of the

Lord. ענתך�, for which we find in the psalm ענותך�, thy humility, i.e., God's

condescending grace, does not mean “thy humiliation,” but “thy hearkening,” i.e., that practical hearkening on the part of God, when called upon for help, which was manifested in the fact that God made his steps broad, i.e., provided the walker with a broad space for free motion, removing obstructions and stumbling-blocks out of the way. God had done this for David, so that his ankles had not trembled, i.e., he had not been wanting in the power to take firm and safe steps. In this strength of his God he could destroy all his foes.

ELLICOTT, "(36) Thy gentleness.—This is the translation of the word in Psalms 18:35. The word here, which differs very slightly, and is otherwise unknown, is undoubtedly meant for it; if taken as it stands it would, by its etymology, mean thy answering, viz., to the prayers offered. The psalm inserts between the two clauses of the verse, “and thy right hand hath holden me up.”

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:36. From the figure of the bow David passes to that of the shield. As in attack, so in defence the Lord is his strength. And thou gavest me the shield of thy salvation, the shield that consists in God’s salvation, whereby He protects His people. Comp. Ephesians 6:17 : “helmet of salvation.” The following words in the Psalm: “and thy right hand supported me” are wanting here; they seem to have been omitted, not through error, but for brevity’s sake, as in general our Song of Solomon, compared with the Psalm, shows a preference for curt, pregnant expression. And thy hearing made me great. Hearing = favorable acceptance of a request. This “hearing”[FN38](not “thy lowliness,” Hengst, or “thy toil,” Böttch.) answers to the “salvation” of the preceding clause; he received salvation through God’s granting his petition. The Psalm has: “thy humility, condescension” (comp. Psalm 113:6; Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:1 sq.) [Eng. A. V, following the pointing of the Psalm, renders: “thy gentleness” (“meekness” would be a more accurate translation). Our text reads literally: “thy answering,” or “thy toiling, suffering,” neither of which gives a satisfactory sense in the connection. The reading of the Psalm is better.—Tr.]

SBC, "These words gather up into their brief utterance all the song of the great king

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David when he recounted his greatness, and reveal at once the secret of his greatness and the heart of his song. David knew God as few human souls have done. He knew Him as the Creator and the Judge, but when he comes to consider his own life, it is to the gentleness of God he turns. All the lights and shadows and depths and heights of his manifold spiritual life had this for their source, and only this: the gentleness of God.

I. The gentleness of God is the secret spring of all the worth to which the great ones of God’s kingdom have ever reached. Above and underneath all virtues are the dews and fountain-springs of the gentleness of God. From verge to verge, over all the sea of redeemed life, rises the thankful, joyous, self-abasing song, "Lamb of God, slain for us, Thy gentleness hath made us great."

II. It is not only the lives of saintly thinkers and workers in former centuries that illustrate this fact. It is borne out by the experience and testimony of God’s people at the present day. Under all varieties of experience each arrives at the same conclusion: "By His grace we are what we are."

III. Of this gentleness which maketh great, Christ is the manifestation to us. The work Christ came to accomplish was the bestowal of gentleness upon a world which had lost the very elements of it. The light which shines from the Cross is the gentleness of God. He passed into the shadow of death, and there, with the gentleness of a Divine mother, laid His hand on the hand, His heart on the heart, of the very race which crucified Him, that He might overcome their enmity and bring them back to God.

IV. This is still the greatness of Christ as a Saviour and His power over the hearts of men. He is strong to save because He is longsuffering, and merciful, and generous. We are surprised when we read, "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us," but it is the same wonder of mercy, the same manifestation of gentleness, that He still lives to save His enemies.

A. Macleod, Days of Heaven upon Earth, p. 184.

37 You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.

GILL, "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip. See Gill on Psa_18:36.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:37. Thou enlargedst my steps under[FN39] me, gave me free room, so that I could advance without hindrance. Proverbs 4:12 presents the contrasted condition of straitness and stumbling: “when thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble,” comp. 2 Samuel 22:34. Hupfeld remarks rightly that we have not here merely the usual contrast of narrowness and wideness=distress and deliverance ( Psalm 4:2, 1],

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comp. Psalm 31:9, 8]); the wide path (step) is prepared by the Lord for the successful termination of the battle, especially for the unhindered pursuit of the enemy ( 2 Samuel 22:38). And my ankles wavered not (elsewhere: “my feet, or steps, Psalm 26:1; Psalm 37:31), that Isaiah, thou gavest me the power so to go with free step. Wavering, as opposed to standing firm, comes from weakness in the knees or ankles.

PINK, "If we are now to complete our exposition of this song we must dispense with our usual introductory remarks: we therefore proceed at once to our next verse. "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip" (2 Sam. 22:37). Here David praises the Lord because He had not only preserved but prospered him too, blessing him with liberty and expansion: compare verse 20. From the narrow mountain pass and the confinement of caves, he had been brought to the spacious plains, and there too he had been sustained, for the latter has its dangers as well as the former: "It is no small mercy to be brought into full Christian liberty and enlargement, but it is a greater favour still to be enabled to walk worthily in such liberty, not being permitted to slide with our feet" (C. H. Spurgeon). To stand firm in the day of adversity is the result of grace upholding, and that aid is no less needed by us in seasons of prosperity.

"I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had

consumed them" (v. 38). David was here alluding to occasions like that recorded in 1

Samuel 30: the Amalekites thought themselves clear away with their booty (v. 2), but

when David’s God guided him in pursuit, they were soon overtaken and cut in pieces

(vv. 16-18). It is not sufficient that the believer stand his ground and resist the

onslaught of his Foes. There are times when he must assume the offensive and

"pursue" his enemies: yea, as a general principle it holds good that attack is the best

means of defense. Lusts are not only to be starved, by making no provision For them,

they are to be "mortified" or put to death. God has provided the Christian warrior with

a sword as well as with a shield, and each is to be used in its season. Observe that

verse 38 follows verse 37: there must be an enlargement and revival before we can be

the aggressors and victors.

"And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they

are fallen under my feet" (v. 39). This calls attention to the completeness of the

victories which the Lord enabled David to achieve. But does not this present a serious

difficulty to the exercised saint? How far, far short does his actual experience come of

this! So far from his enemies king consumed and under his feet, he daily finds them

gaining the ascendancy over him. True; nevertheless, there is a real sense in which it

is his holy privilege to make these words his own: they are the language of faith, and

not of sense. The terms of this verse may be legitimately applied to the judicial

slaughter of our foes: we may exult over sin, death, and hell having been destroyed by

our conquering Lord! Forget not His precious promise, "because I live, ye shall live

also" (John 14:19): His victory in the past, is the sure guarantee of our complete

victory in the future.

"For Thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast

Thou subdued under me" (v. 40). David had been both vigorous and valiant, yet he

takes no credit to himself for the same. He freely acknowledges that it was God who

had qualified him for his warfare, who had given him ability therein, and who had

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crowned his efforts with such success. Any measure of liberty from sin and Satan

which we enjoy, any enlargement of heart in God’s service, our preservation in the

slippery paths of this enticing world, are cause for thankfulness, and not ground for

glorying in self. It is true that we have to wrestle with our spiritual antagonists, hut the

truth is that the victory is far more the Lord’s than ours. It has long been the

conviction of this writer, both from his own experience and the close observation of

many others, that the principal reason why the Lord does not grant us a much larger

measure of present triumph over our spiritual foes, is because we are so prone to be

self-righteous over the same. Alas, how deceitful and wicked are our hearts.

"Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that

hate me" (v. 41). There is no doubt that such will be our peon of praise in heaven in a

far fuller sense than ever it is in this world. Do we not get more than a hint of this in

Revelation 15:1-3, where we are told that "those that had gotten the victory over the

Beast," etc. sing "the song of Moses, the servant of God (see Ex. 15) and the song of

the Lamb"? Meanwhile, it is our blessed privilege to rest upon the divine promise:

"The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your Feet shortly" (Rom. 16:20). Rightly

did Adams the Puritan when commenting on this verse in our song, exhort his hearers

"Though passion possess our bodies, let patience possess our souls." In a protracted

warfare patience is just as essential as is valor or skill to use our weapons. The

promise of ultimate salvation is made only unto those who "endure to the end." In due

season we shall reap if we faint not. The fight may be a long and arduous one, but the

victor’s crown will be a grand recompense. Then look above the smoke and din of

battle to the Prince of Peace who waits to welcome thee on High.

"They looked, but there was none to save: even unto the Lord, but He answered them

not" (v. 42). The Companion Bible has pointed out that there is here a play on words

in the Hebrew which may be rendered thus in English: They cried with fear, but none

gave ear. They called both to earth and heaven For help, but in vain, God heeded them

not For they were His enemies, and sought Him not through the Mediator; being given

up by Him, they fell an easy prey to David’s righteous sword. "Prayer is so notable a

weapon that even the wicked will take to it in their fits of despair. But men have

appealed to God against His own servants, but all in vain: the kingdom of heaven is

not divided, and God never succors His foes at the expense of His friends. There are

prayers to God which are no better than blasphemy, which bring no comforting reply,

but rather provoke the Lord unto greater wrath" (C. H. Spurgeon).

"Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of

the street, and did spread them abroad" (v. 43). Let not the connection between this

and the preceding verse be missed—emphasized by its opening "Then." It shows us

how utterly helpless are those who are abandoned by God, and how fearful is their

fate—compare the case of King Saul: 1 Samuel 28:6 and 30:3, 4! The defeat of those

nations which fought against David was so entire that they were like powders pounded

in the mortar. Thomas Scott saw in this verse, and we think rightly so, a reference to

"the inevitable destruction which came upon the Jews for crucifying the Lord of glory

and rejecting the Gospel. They cried, and they still cry, to the Lord to save them, but

refusing to obey His beloved Son, He vouchsafes them no answer." How accurately

did the figures of this verse depict the tragic history of the fetus: "dust" which is

scattered by the wind to all parts of the earth; "mire" that is contemptuously trampled

underfoot!

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"Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, Thou hast kept me to

be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me" (v. 44). In the first

clause David refers to the intense strife which had so gravely threatened and menaced

his kingdom. There had been times when internal dissensions had been far more

serious and dangerous than anything which the surrounding nations threatened;

nevertheless God had graciously preserved His servants from their malice and

opposition. Thus it is with the Christian warrior: though be opposed from without by

both the world and the devil, yet his greatest danger comes from within—his own

corruptions and lusts are continually seeking his overthrow. None but God can grant

him deliverance from his inward foes, but the sure promise is "He which hath begun a

good work in you will finish it" (Phil. 1:6). The same principle holds true of the

minister: his most acute problems and trials issue not from without the pale of his

church, but from its own members and adherents; and it is a great mercy when God

gives peace within,

"Thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve

me." God’s signal preservation of David intimated that he was designed and reserved

for an important and imposing position: to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel,

notwithstanding all the opposition the Benjamites had made against him, and to be

exalted over heathen nations also: the decisive defeats of the Amalekites and

Philistines were regarded as the pledge of still more notable triumphs. The practical

lesson inculcated therein is one of great importance: hereby we are taught that the

unchanging Faithfulness of God should encourage us to view all the blessings which

we have received at His hands in the past as the earnest of yet greater favors in the

future. God hath not preserved thee thus far, my faint-hearted brother, to let thee

flounder in the end. He who did sustain thee through six trials declares "in seven there

shall no evil touch thee" (Job 5:19). Say, then, with the apostle, "Who hath delivered

us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that He will yet deliver

us" (2 Cor. 1:10).

"Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be

obedient unto me" (v. 45). It will be observed that in this verse, as well as in the

second half of the preceding one, our translators have made a change of tense from the

present to the future. Opinions vary considerably as to where the last section of the

song really commences, in which memory passes into hope, in which the successes of

the past are regarded as the guarantee of still greater triumphs in the future. God had

been David’s "buckler" (v. 31), his "strength and power" (v. 33). His condescension

had made him great (v. 36), He had given him the necks of his enemies (v. 41): from

all of which he draws the conclusion that God had still grander blessings in store for

him. There can be little room for doubt that in the verses we are now pondering David

was carried forward by the spirit of prophecy unto this New Testament era, his own

kingdom being the symbol and portent of the spiritual reign of his Son and Lord.

The only matter on which there is any uncertainty is the precise point in this song

where the historical merges into the prophetical, for the Hebrew verb does not, as in

English, afford us any help here. As we have seen, Thomas Scott considers that verse

43, at least, should be included in this category. Alexander Maclaren suggested, "It is

perhaps best to follow many of the older versions, and the valuable exposition of

Hupfield, in regarding the whole section from verse 38 of our translation as the

expression of the trust which past experience had wrought." Personally, we consider

that too radical: we are on much safer ground if we take the course followed by the

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American Version and regard verse 44 as the turning point, where it is evident David

was conscious that his kingdom was destined to be extended further than the confines

of Palestine: strange tribes were to submit unto him and crouch before him in

subjection.

Not only were the severe conflicts through which David passed and the remarkable

victories granted to him prefigurations of the experiences of Christ, both in His

sufferings and triumphs, but the further enlargements which David expected and his

being made head over the heathen, foreshadowed the Redeemer’s exaltation and the

expansion of His kingdom far beyond the bounds of Judaism. First, the antitypical

David had been delivered from the strivings of his Jewish people (v. 44), not by being

preserved from death, but by being brought triumphantly through it, for in all things

He must have the preeminence. Second, He had been made Head of the Church,

which comprised Gentiles as well as Jews. Third, those who had been "strangers" (v.

45) to the commonwealth of Israel, submitted to the sound of His voice through the

Gospel and rendered to Him the obedience of faith. Fourth, Paganism received its

death-wound under the labors of Paul, its pride being humbled into the dust: such we

take it is the prophetic allusion in v. 46.

"As soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto Me" (v. 45). "In many cases the

Gospel is speedily received by hearts apparently unprepared for it. Those who have

never heard the Gospel before, have been charmed by its first message, and yielded

obedience to it; while others, alas! who are accustomed to its joyful sound, are rather

hardened than softened by its teachings. 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 Caesar’s 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" (C. H. Spurgeon).

"Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places" (v. 46).

"Out of their mountain fastnesses the heathen crept in fear to own allegiance to

Israel’s king; and even so, from the castles of self-confidence and the dens of carnal

security, poor sinners come bending before the Saviour, Christ the Lord. Our sins

which have entrenched themselves in our flesh and blood as in impregnable forts,

shall yet be driven forth by the sanctifying energy of the Holy Spirit, and we shall

serve the Lord in singleness of heart" (C. H. Spurgeon).

"The Lord liveth: and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my

salvation" (v. 47). After offering praise for past conquests and expressing his

confidence in future victories, David returned to the more direct adoration of God

Himself. Some of the glorious names of deity which he had heaped together at the

beginning of his song, are now echoed at its close. The varied experiences through

which he had passed had brought to the Psalmist a deeper knowledge of his living

Lord: the One who had preserved Noah and ministered to Abraham long before, was

his God too: swift to hear, active to help. One of the lesser known Puritans

commented thus on this verse: "Honours die, pleasures die, the world dies; but the

Lord liveth. My flesh is as sand, my fleshly life, strength, and glory is as a word

written on sand; but blessed be my Rock. Those are but for a moment; this stands for

ever; the curse shall devour those, everlasting blessings on the head of these" (P.

Sterry).

"It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me, and that

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bringeth me forth from mine enemies: Thou also hast lifted me up on high above them

that rose against me: Thou hast delivered me from the violent man" (vv. 48, 49). Here

David recurs to the dominant sentiment running through this Song: all his help was in

God and from God. To take matters into our own hands and seek personal revenge, is

not only utterly unbecoming in one who has received mercy from the Lord, but it is

grossly wicked, for it encroaches upon a prerogative which belongs alone to Him.

Moreover, it is quite unnecessary, for in due time the Lord will avenge His wronged

people. Though we may join with Stephen in praying "Lord, lay not this sin to their

charge," yet when divine justice takes satisfaction upon those who have flouted His

law, the devout heart will return thanks. After the battle at Naseby, in a letter to the

Speaker of the House of Commons, Oliver Cromwell wrote, "Sir, this is none other

than the hand of God, and to Him alone belongs the glory, wherein none are to share

with Him."

"Therefore I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing

praises unto Thy name" (v. 50). What an example does David here set us of a holy

soul making its boast in God in the presence of ungodly men. There is a happy

medium between an unseemly parading of our piety before believers and a cowardly

silence in their presence. We must not suffer the despisers of God to shut our mouths

and stifle our praises; especially is it our duty to bow our heads and "give thanks unto

the Lord" before partaking of a meal, even though we are "among the heathen," Be not

ashamed to acknowledge thy God in the presence of His enemies. This verse is quoted

by the apostle and applied to Christ in Romans 15:9, which affords clear proof that

David had his Antitype before him in the second half of this Song.

"He is the tower of salvation for His king; and showeth mercy to His anointed, unto

David, and to his seed for evermore (v. 51). David contemplated God not only as "the

rock of his salvation"—the One who undergirded him, the One on whom all his hopes

rested—but also as "the tower of salvation—the One in whom he found security, the

One who was infinitely elevated above him. Though saved, he yet had need of being

shown "mercy"! The last clause indicates that he was resting on the divine promise of

2 Samuel 7: 15, 16, and supplies additional evidence that he had here an eye to Christ,

for He alone is his "Seed for evermore."

38 "I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

GILL, "I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them. See Gill on Psa_18:37.

K&D 38-41, "The optative form אר�פה serves to make the future signification of

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אר�ף (in the psalm) the more apparent. Consequently it is quite out of the question to

take the other verbs as preterites. We are not compelled to do this by the interchange of imperfects c. vav consec. with simple imperfects, as the vav consec. is not used exclusively as expressive of the past. On the contrary, the substance of the whole of the following description shows very clearly that David refers not only to the victories he has already won, but in general to the defeat of all his foes in the past, the present, and the future; for he speaks as distinctly as possible not only of their entire destruction (2Sa_22:38, 2Sa_22:39, 2Sa_22:43), but also of the fact that God makes him the head of the nations, and distant and foreign nations to him homage. Consequently he refers not only to his own personal dominion, but also, on the strength of the promise which he had received from God, to the increase of the dominion of the throne of his house, whilst he proclaims in the Spirit the ultimate defeat of all the enemies of the kingdom of God. This Messianic element in the following description comes out in a way that cannot be mistaken, in the praise of the

Lord with which he concludes in 2Sa_22:47-51. שמידםgו, “I destroy them,” is stronger

than �יגםgו, “I reach them” (in the psalm). In 2Sa_22:39 the words are crowded

together, to express the utter destruction of all foes. In the psalm ואכ�ם is omitted.

ו[זרני for �רניg]ו in the psalm is not a poetical Syriasm, and still less a “careless

solecism” (Hupfeld), but a simple contraction, such as we meet with in many forms:

e.g., מ�פנו for �פנוgמ (Job_35:11; cf. Ewald, §232, b.). The form ה]] for נת[ה (in the

psalm) is unusual, and the aphaeresis of the נ can only be accounted for from the fact

that this much-used word constantly drops its נ as a radical sound in the imperfect

(see Ewald, §195, c.). The phrase ערף �י [[ה is formed after Exo_23:27. “Giving the

enemy to a person's back” means causing them to turn the back, i.e., putting them to flight.

ELLICOTT, "(38) Destroyed them.—In the psalm, “overtaken them,” an expression intended to suggest the same thing as the plain expression here. The second clauses are identical in the original.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:38-39. The act of pursuit and destruction is declared to be his own act. The verbs are to be taken in the Imperfect signification, since it is clear from 2 Samuel 22:40 sqq.[FN40] that the reference is to the past. I pursued my enemies and destroyed them; the Psalm has the weaker expression: “overtook them” ( Psalm 7:6, 5]. comp. Exodus 15:9). In the Psalm there is an advance in the thought, here a simple synonymous parallelism (Hengst.). 2 Samuel 22:39 expresses the idea of total destruction by an aggregation of words: “and I destroyed them (wanting in the Psalm) and crushed them.” That they rose not; Psalm: “and they could not rise,” that Isaiah, in the hostile sense, rise to further contest. And they fell under my feet, = under me, 2 Samuel 22:40; 2 Samuel 22:48; Psalm 44:6; Psalm 47:4, 3]. 2 Samuel 22:38; 2 Samuel 22:40 present a picture not of subjection and dominion (Hupf.), but of conquering enemies in battle by casting them down and passing over them.

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39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.

GILL, "And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet. See Gill on Psa_18:38.

ELLICOTT, "(39) I have consumed them, and wounded them.—The former clause is wanting in the psalm, and the latter needs a stronger word—crushed them.

40 You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.

GILL, "For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me. See Gill on Psa_18:39.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:40-41. David declares, however, that he received the victorious might only from the Lord, and gives Him praise therefor. And thou didst gird me… and didst bow my opponents under me;[FN41] literally, “didst make them bend the knee.”—And my enemies, thou madest them turn the back to me; literally, “thou gavest[FN42] them to me as neck [nape].”

MACLAREN, "DAVID'S HYMN OF VICTORY

The Davidic authorship of this great hymn has been admitted even by critics who are in general too slow to recognise it. One of these says that ‘there is no Israelite king to whom the expressions in the psalm apply so closely as to David.’ The favourite alternative theory that the speaker is the personified nation is hard to accept. The voice of individual trust and of personal experience sounds clear in the glowing words. Two editions of the hymn are preserved for us,-in Psa_18:1-50 and 2Sa_22:1-51. Slight variations exist in the two copies, which may probably be merely accidental. Nothing important depends on them. The text begins with the closing words of a description of God’s arming the singer for his victories, and goes on to paint the tumult of battle and the rout of the foe (2Sa_22:40 f11 - 2Sa_22:43); then follows triumphant expectation of future wider victories (2Sa_22:44-46); and that leads up to the closing burst of grateful praise (2Sa_22:47-51).

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I. We are not to forget that what is described in 2Sa_22:40 f11 - 2Sa_22:43 is a literal fight, with real swords against very real enemies. We may draw lessons of encouragement from it for our conflict with spiritual wickednesses, but we must not lose sight of the bloody combat with flesh and blood which the singer had waged. He felt that God had braced his armour on him, had given him the impenetrable ‘shield’ which he wore on his arm, and had strengthened his arms to bend the ‘bow of steel.’ We see him in swift pursuit, pressing hard on the flying foe, crushing them with his fierce charge, trampling them under foot. ‘I did beat them small as the dust of the earth.’ His blows fell like those of a great pestle, pulverising some substance in a mortar. ‘I did stamp them as the mire of the streets,’-a vivid picture of trampling down the prostrate wretches, for which Psa_18:1-50 gives the less picturesque variant, ‘did cast them out.’ In their despair the fugitives shriek aloud for God’s help, and the Psalmist has a stern joy in knowing their cries to be unheard.

Now, such delight in an enemy’s despair and destruction, such gratification at the vanity of his prayers, are far away from being Christian sentiments, and the gulf is not wholly bridged by the consideration that David felt himself to be God’s Anointed, and enmity to him to be, consequently, treason against God. His feelings were most natural and entirely consistent with the stage of revelation in which he lived. They were capable of being purified into that triumph in the victory of good and the ruin of evil without which there is no vigorous sympathy with Christ’s conflict. They kindle, by their splendid energy and condensed rapidity, an answering glow even in readers so far away from the scene as we are. But still they do belong to a lower level of feeling, and result from a less full revelation than belongs to Christianity. The light of battle which blazes in them is not the fire which Jesus longed to kindle on earth.

But we may well take a pattern from the stern soldier’s recognition that all his victory was due to God alone. The strength that he put forth was God’s gift. It was God who subdued the insurgents, not David. The panic which made the foe take to flight was infused into them by God. No name but Jehovah’s was to be carved on the trophy reared on the battlefield. The human victor was but the instrument of the divine Conqueror. Such lowly reference of all our power and success to Him will save us from overweening self-adulation, and is the surest way to retain the power which He gives, and which is lost most surely when we take the credit of it to ourselves.

II. The enemies thus far have been from among his own subjects, but in 2Sa_22:44-46 a transition is made to victory over ‘strangers’; that is, foreign nations. The triumph over ‘the strivings of my people’ heartens the singer to expect that he will be’ head of the nations.’ The other version of the hymn (Psa_18:1-50) reads simply ‘thepeople.’

The picture of hasty surrender ‘as soon as they hear of me’ is graphic. His very name conquers. ‘The strangers shall submit themselves unto me’ is literally ‘shall lie,’ or yield feigned obedience. They ‘fade away’ as if withered by the hot wind of the desert. ‘They shall come limping’ (as the word here used signifies), as if wounded in the fight, for which Psa_18:1-50 reads ‘trembling.’

Now this vision of extended conquests, based as it is on past smaller victories, carries valuable lessons. David here lays hold of the great promises to his house of a wide dominion, and expects the beginnings of their fulfilment to himself. And he didextend his conquests beyond the territory of Israel. But we may take the hope as an instance in a particular direction of what should be the issue of all experience of God’s mercies. ‘To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.’ Smaller victories will be followed by greater. Our reception of God’s favouring help should widen our anticipations. Our gratitude to Him should be ‘a lively sense of favours to come.’ Progressive victory should be the experience of every believer.

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We may see, too, dimly apparent through the large hope of the Psalmist-King, the prophecy of the worldwide victories of his Son, in whom the great promises of a dominion ‘from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth,’ are fulfilled.

III. 2Sa_22:46 - 2Sa_22:51 make a noble close to a noble hymn, in which the singer’s strong wing never flags, nor the rush of thought and feeling ever slackens. In it, even more absolutely than in the rest of the psalm, his victory is all ascribed to Jehovah. He alone acts, David simply receives. To have learned by experience that’ He lives,’ and is ‘my Rock,’ and to gather all the feelings excited by the retrospect of a long life into ‘Blessed be my Rock,’ is to have reaped and garnered the richest harvest which earth can yield. So at last sings the man whose early years had been full of struggles and privations. A morning of tempest has cleared into sunny evening calm, as it will with us all if the tempest blows us into our true shelter.

This psalm begins with a rapturous heaping together of the precious names of God, as the singer has had them revealed to him by experience. Foremost among these stands that one, ‘my Rock,’ which is caught up again in this closing burst of thanksgiving. That great Rock towers unchangeable above fleeting things. The river runs past its base, the woods nestling at its feet bud, and shed their pride of foliage, but it stands the same. David had many a time hid in ‘the clefts of the rocks’ in his years of wandering, and the figure is eloquent on his lips.

These closing strains gather together once more the main points of the previous verses, his deliverance from domestic foes, and his conquests over external enemies. These are wholly God’s work. True thankfulness delights to repeat its acknowledgments. God does not weary of giving, we should not weary of praising the Giver and His gifts. We renew our enjoyment of our long-past mercies by reiterating our thankfulness for them. They do not die as long as gratitude keeps their remembrance green.

But the Psalmist’s experience impels him to a vow (2Sa_22:50). He will give thanks to God among the nations. God’s mercies bind, and, if rightly felt, 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 God’s great blessings received and appreciated, and they need never want a theme who can tell what the Lord has done for their souls. ‘Then shall. . . the tongue of the dumb sing.’ A dumb Christian is a monstrosity. We are ‘the secretaries of His praise,’ and have been saved ourselves that we may declare His goodness.

2Sa_22:51 has been supposed by some to be a liturgical addition, on the ground that, if David were the author, he would not be likely to name himself thus. But there does not seem to be anything unnatural in his mentioning himself by name in such a connection, and the reference to his dynasty, based as it is on Nathan’s promise, is most fitting. The last thought about his mercies which the humble gratitude of the Psalmist utters is that they were not given to him for any good in himself, nor to be selfishly enjoyed, but that they were bestowed on him because of the place that he filled in the divine purposes, and belonged to ‘his seed’ as truly as to himself. So lowly had his prosperity made him. So truly had he sunk himself in his office, and in the great things that God meant to do through him and his house. We know better than David did what these were, and how the promise on which he rested his hopes of the duration of his house is fulfilled in his Son, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and who bears God’s name to all the nations.

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41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.

GILL, "Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. See Gill on Psa_18:40.

PETT 41-43, "It was YHWH Who made all his enemies turn their backs on him and run, so that he was enabled to cut off all who hated him. And when they looked to YHWH they received no answer, because they only did so in a superstitious and ritualistic way (consider, for example, Saul, Abner, Absalom, and Sheba), otherwise they would have been responsive and obedient towards the one who was YHWH’s Anointed. The result was that David had been able to beat them into fine dust, and to crush them like men do when they walk on the mire of the streets, and then scatter it abroad (there were no regular rubbish collectors in those days).

42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them- to the LORD , but he did not answer.

GILL, "They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. See Gill on Psa_18:41.

K&D 42-43, "The cry of the foe for help is not attended to; they are annihilated

without quarter. ישעו, to look out to God for help (with אל and על; vid., Isa_17:7-8), is

more poetical than ישועו, “they cry” (in the psalm); and עפר־ארץ_ is more simple than

על־�ני־רוח� _עפר (in the psalm), “I crush them as dust before the wind,” for the wind

does not crush the dust, but carries it away. In the second clause of 2Sa_22:43, אד�ם

is used instead of אריקם in the psalm, and strengthened by אד�ם .ארקעם, from דקק, to

make thin, to crush; so that instead of “I pour them out like mire of the streets which is trodden to pieces,” the Psalmist simply says, “I crush and stamp upon them like mire of the streets.” Through the utter destruction of the foe, God establishes the universal dominion to which the throne of David is to attain.

ELLICOTT, "(42) They looked.—By the change of a letter this becomes in the psalm “They cried,” and it is so translated here in the LXX., “they shall cry.”

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One of the readings is doubtless a mere clerical error.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:42-43. The enemy look in vain to the Lord for help. They looked out to the Lord (comp. Isaiah 17:7-8); the Psalm has: “they cried.” The enemies are not to be regarded as Israelites, because they looked to the help of the Lord (Riehm in Hupf.); the heathen also in extreme need might well expect deliverance from the God of Israel, comp. 1 Samuel 5:7; 1 Samuel 6:5; John 2:14—And I rubbed them to pieces (pulverized them) as dust of the earth, comp. Genesis 13:16; Isaiah 40:12, their power was changed into impotence. The Psalm has: “as dust before the wind,” combining the two images of the beating the enemy to dust, and scattering them as dust is scattered by the wind, comp. Isaiah 29:5; Isaiah 41:2—As the dust of the streets I did trample[FN43] and stamp them to pieces (the Psalm: “I emptied them out.”) The stamping of the dirt of the street is the symbol of a contemptuous treatment and rejection of what is in itself worthless. Comp. Isaiah 10:6; Zechariah 10:5. The description of the contest against the enemies under the guidance and help of the Lord is completed by the representation of their total destruction.

43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.

GILL, "Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad. See Gill on Psa_18:42.

44 "You have delivered me from the attacks of my people; you have preserved me as the head of nations. People I did not know are subject to me,

GILL, "Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people,

thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me. See Gill on Psa_18:43.

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K&D, "By “the strivings of my people” the more indefinite expression in the psalm, “strivings of the people,” is explained. The words refer to the domestic conflicts of David, out of which the Lord delivered him, such as the opposition of Ishbosheth and the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba. These deliverances formed the

prelude and basis of his dominion over the heathen. Consequently שמרני] (Thou

preservest me to be the head of the nations) occurs quite appropriately in the second

clause; and שימני], “Thou settest me,” which occurs in the psalm, is a far less pregnant

expression. עם before ידע[י לא is used indefinitely to signify foreign nations. Toi king

of Hamath (2Sa_8:10) was an example, and his subjugation was a prelude of the future subjection of all the heathen to the sceptre of the Son of David, as predicted in Ps 72. In v. 45 the two clauses of the psalm are very appropriately transposed. The

Hithpael is the later form. In the primary passage ,יכחשו as compared with ,יתכחשו

(Deu_33:29) the Niphal is used to signify the dissembling of friendship, or of

involuntary homage on the part of the vanquished towards the victor. אזן by“ ,לשמוע�

the hearing of the ear,” i.e., by hearsay, is a simple explanation of אזן at the ,לשמע

rumour of the ears (vid., Job_42:5), i.e., at the mere rumour of David's victories. The foreign nations pine away, i.e., despair of ever being able to resist the victorious

power of David. יח�רו, “they gird themselves,” does not yield any appropriate

meaning, even if we should take it in the sense of equipping themselves to go out to

battle. The word is probably a misspelling of יחרגו, which occurs in the psalm, חרג

being a �π.�λεγ. in the sense of being terrified, or trembling: they tremble out of their

castles, i.e., they come trembling out of their castles (for the thought itself, see Mic_

7:17). It is by no means probable that the word חרג, which is so frequently met with in

Hebrew, is used in this one passage in the sense of “to limp,” according to Syriac usage.

In conclusion, the Psalmist returns to the praise of the Lord, who had so highly favoured him.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:44. Thou didst deliver me out of the wars of my people (or, of peoples). Since only external wars[FN44] are spoken of in the preceding and succeeding context, it is not at all allowable to understand internal dissensions here (Hitz, Hengst, Del, Keil). That would break the connection, and destroy the continuity of advance in the description of David’s relation to external enemies up to the point of complete dominion over them by the Lord’s help.—The “wars of my people” are the wars that his people had to carry on against other nations under his lead; as he has previously spoken of them as his wars, so now he regards them as his people’s. He was doubtless led to this by thinking of his position as king and head of his people, from which position he saw as the result of his wars the subjection of the heathen nations to his royal authority.—If we take the form (עמי) as plural,[FN45] = “peoples,” then the “wars of peoples” are wars carried on by Israel with foreign nations, “wars between peoples,” in contrast with the internal conflicts, the fortunate conclusion of which has been before described (Riehm in Hupfeld).—David embraces all the Lord’s helps in these wars in this brief exclamation, in order to declare how, as a consequence, the Lord has made him head over these nations. Thou didst preserve me (in the Psalm more simply: didst make me) to be head of the

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heathen, preserved me that I should become their head. This reading connects the previous declaration of deliverance with the following statement of the servitude of the nations better than that of the Psalm, because it directs attention to David’s dangers in those wars.—A people (= peoples) that I knew not serves (serve) me.—The collective sense “peoples” (עם) is to be taken here, as above, on account of the parallelism with the plural “nations” [Eng. A. V.: heathen]; not: “people, folks” (Hupfeld). “The Verb (Impf.) is to be rendered as Present, since the idea of the ‘head of the nations’ is developed” (Hupf.). Comp. chap8

PETT 44-46, "And all this applied both to the strivings of his own people against him (under Abner, Absalom and Sheba), and to peoples whom he had not known over whom YHWH had given him supremacy (e.g. the Aramaeans from ‘beyond the River), thus making him ‘the head of the nations’. It was YHWH Who had enabled him to defeat the Amalekites, the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Aramaeans, with the result that other nations had submitted willingly without even a fight, before he had even approached them (e.g. Toi king of Hamath in 2 Samuel 8:10).

(Previously, of course, we have seen that it was through his mighty men (e.g. 2 Samuel 21:15-22), his invincible bodyguard (the Cherethites and the Pelethites), and his own private army, ‘his men’ that he mainly obtained victory. But now it is being made clear that they had succeeded only by His power, which was why they had been able to slay the ‘giants’. Everything was owed to YHWH Who had made David’s name great as He had promised).

45 and foreigners come cringing to me; as soon as they hear me, they obey me.

GILL, "Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me. See Gill on Psa_18:44.

HENRY, "2. For himself. He foresaw that his conquests and kingdom would be yet further enlarged, 2Sa_22:45, 2Sa_22:46. Even the sons of the stranger, that would hear the report of his victories and the tokens of God's presence with him, would be possessed with a fear of him, would be forced to submit to him, though feignedly, and would be obedient to him. The successes which he had had he looked upon as earnests of more and means of more. Who durst oppose him by whom so many had been overcome? Thus the Son of David goes on conquering and to conquer, Rev_6:2. His gospel, which has been victorious, shall be so more and more.

ELLICOTT, "(45) As soon as they hear.—This and the previous clause are

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transposed in the psalm, this clause there constituting 2 Samuel 22:44.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:45. Sons of strangeness, that Isaiah, those strange (foreign) nations; the “foreign” answers to the “I knew not” of the preceding verse—fawn on me (lit.: lie[FN46] to me), they pay fawning, hypocritical homage, while their heart is full of hate and rage [Eng. A. V.: submit to me].—At the hearing of the ear they obeyed me.—The usual explanation is: “at the mere report of me and my victories, before my arrival, they submitted themselves,” based on Job 42:5, where the “hearing of the ear” stands in contrast with the “seeing of the eyes;” against which Isaiah, that David in the immediately preceding statement of the “fawning” of the enemy, and in the above description of their subjection pre-supposes his personal presence, and the reflexive (Niphal[FN47]) verb “obeyed” exhibits personal obedience to a personal command. We therefore render (with Böttcher and Hupf.): “at the hearing of the ear (= when they heard the command) they showed themselves obedient to me,” comp. Isaiah 11:3. Hengstenberg’s passive rendering: “who were heard to me by the hearing of the ear,” that Isaiah, of whom I knew previously only by hearsay, is forced and ambiguous. The two members of 2 Samuel 22:45 stand in the Psalm in the reverse order.

46 They all lose heart; they come trembling [9] from their strongholds.

GILL, "Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places. See Gill on Psa_18:45.

ELLICOTT, "(46) Shall be afraid out of their close places.—The English here follows Psalms 18:45. but the Hebrew verbs differ by the transposition of a letter. This is probably a mere clerical error, but if it be retained the sense will be a little changed. The psalm means, came trembling from their fastnesses, representing the conquered as submitting with fear; the text here, came limping from their fastnesses, suggesting that the remnant of the enemy had already been injured and wounded.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:46. Withered away, all physical strength and moral courage left them, they became dull and wretched (comp. Exodus 18:18). In the next clause the Psalm has “trembled” [ =came trembling], while our passage (unless it be an error of copyist for the Psalm -word[FN48]) has: “they hobble (their strength being broken) out of their enclosures (or, fortresses);” it is not to be rendered: “they gird themselves (in order to come forth)” (Hengst. [Phil.]), since this does not accord with the representation here given of voluntary

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subjection. The reference of the words to “prisons and bonds,” into which the strangers are thrown as “refractory” (Böttcher) is against the connection, which speaks only of unconditional obedience and complete subjection of enemies. Rather there is supposed here the wretched condition produced by a long siege; the enemy come out of the fastnesses, in which they have long been cooped up, in miserable condition, in order to submit themselves to the victor.—[Eng. A. V. adopts the Psalm -text: “shall be afraid,” and so Erdmann in his translation: “tremble,” and this is perhaps preferable, comp. Micah 7:17—In 2 Samuel 22:45-46, Erdmann renders the verbs Present in his translation (fawn, obey, wither, tremble), while in the Exposition he makes them Aorist (fawned, etc.); the former is better—Tr.]

47 "The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!

GILL, "The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. See Gill on Psa_18:46.

K&D, "The formula חי־יהוה does not mean “let Jehovah live,” for the word יחיwould be used for that (vid., 2Sa_16:16; 1Sa_10:24), but is a declaration: “the Lord is living.” The declaration itself is to be taken as praise of God, for “praising God is simply ascribing to Him the glorious perfections which belong to him; we have only to give Him what is His own” (Hengstenberg). The following clauses also contain

simply declarations; this is evident from the word ירום, since the optative ירם would

be used to denote a wish. The Lord is living or alive when He manifests His life in

acts of omnipotence. In the last clause, the expression צור (rock) is intensified into

ישעי צור אלהי (the God of my refuge, or rock, of salvation), i.e., the God who is my

saving rock (cf. 2Sa_22:3). In the predicates of God in 2Sa_22:48, 2Sa_22:49, the saving acts depicted by David in vv. 5-20 and 29-46 are summed up briefly. Instead

of מוריד, “He causes to go down under me,” i.e., He subjects to me, we find in the

psalm ד�רhו, “He drives nations under me,” and מפלטי instead of מוציאי; and lastly,

instead of חמס איש in the psalm, we have here חמסים as in Psa_140:2. Therefore ,איש

the praise of the Lord shall be sounded among all nations.

HAWKER, "Verses 47-51

(47) The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. (48) It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me, (49) And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast

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delivered me from the violent man. (50) Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. (51) He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed forevermore.

The concluding verse of this charming song becomes a key to all the rest. Here David runs the whole of divine mercies up to their source, as centered in the person of GOD's anointed. And as David was a type of CHRIST, we may here see how the whole, as a song of deliverance, is directly pointing to redemption-work from spiritual enemies, in the person, and by the conquest and victories to our LORD JESUS CHRIST. He is indeed the promised seed, the anointed, the only anointed of the FATHER, full of grace and truth. He hath already, and will finally and fully, at the great day of judgment, beat down all his foes before his face, and by the conquests of his grace in the hearts of his people he hath brought them down under him, and made them willing in the day of his power. Precious JESUS! give me, and give every Reader of thy people, to trace thy steps in the perusal of this divine chapter. GOD our FATHER hath given salvation unto thee his king, and hath given unto thee a name, which is above every name. And to thee, and thy spiritual seed in thee, the LORD will give blessings forevermore.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:47-51. Conclusion of the song. On the ground of the deliverances he has experienced (here briefly recapitulated from the content in a number of epithets) David first again praises God ( 2 Samuel 22:47-49), as in the beginning of the song. To this phrase, which looks to the past, he adds the vow of thanksgiving ( 2 Samuel 22:50-51), looking beyond Israel to the salvation to come to the heathen, and prophesying the fulfilment for all time of the promises given to him, God’s Anointed, and to his seed.

2 Samuel 22:47. “Living is the Lord” So must the phrase (הי י׳) be rendered, and not optatively: “long live Jehovah,” transferring (as most modern expositors do) the usual formula of homage: “long live the king” ( 2 Samuel 16:16; 1 Samuel 10:24; 1 Kings 1:25; 1 Kings 1:39; 2 Kings 11:12) to God as king of Israel. That formula (יחי המל�) relates to the mortality of the king. Our phrase is the standing oath-formula [as the Lord liveth, by the life of Jehovah], and always assumes life [vitality] to be exclusively an attribute of God. Here only the formula is not an oath, but a declaration: living is the Lord!—an exclamation in the tone of a doxology. Comp. 1 Timothy 6:16 : “God, who alone has immortality.” God is here called living not in contrast with the idols of the heathen (v. Leng, Hengstenberg), to which there is no allusion in the context, but in reference to the enemies and dangers from which God saved him. And so the two following exclamations are simply declarations of the being of God as it has been revealed in the preceding experiences of the singer. Blessed (praised), my rock! (see 2 Samuel 22:2).—Exalted is the rock-God of my salvation—The Psalm has merely: “The God of my salvation.” The “exalted” is to be taken not subjectively (exalted by the praise offered Him), but objectively, exalted in His own majesty and might ( Psalm 56:11 [ Psalm 56:10]; Psalm 21:14 [ Psalm 21:13]; Psalm 57:6, 12

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[ Psalm 57:5; Psalm 57:11]). Not: “be he exalted”[FN49] [so Eng. A. V.] The rock-God of my salvation=the rock-like God, who brings me salvation; comp. 2 Samuel 22:3. To the three declarations of what God is, answer, in 2 Samuel 22:48-49 the statements of God’s deeds, wherein David has learned what He is to him, and wherein He has shown Himself to be the living, rock-firm and exalted God. Here God’s deeds of deliverance (as described in 2 Samuel 22:5-20; 2 Samuel 22:29-46) are briefly brought together

PETT 47-49, "David now relates his victories to his prior commencing eulogy about YHWH as his Rock in verse 2. He has been delivered from all his enemies because YHWH lives, and because He is his Rock, even the Rock of his salvation. All his deliverances are owed to that solid Rock Who has made his feet firm and has brought down his enemies. It was YHWH Who had executed vengeance for him so that, for example, he had been able to leave Saul in God’s hands without smiting him himself. It was YHWH Who had brought down people under him, and had always brought him back from the presence of his enemies in triumph. It was YHWH Who had always lifted him up above those who rose against him, and who had delivered him from ‘the violent man’ (of whom Saul was the most obvious, but not the only, example) .

48 He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me,

GILL, "It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me. See Gill on Psa_18:47.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:48. The God that avenges me.—This shows that God lives, inasmuch as He does not leave His servant as a guilty man in the power of the enemy, but manifests his innocence by executing vengeance[FN50] for him. In Psalm 94:1 God is “the God of vengeance.” And subjects (lit.: makes come down) nations under me.—The Psalm has: “drives[FN51] [or subdues] nations under me” (the expression is found elsewhere only in Psalm 47:4, 3])

49 who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me.

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GILL, "And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. See Gill on Psa_18:48.

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:49. Who brought me forth from my enemies (comp. 2 Samuel 22:20)—Psalm: “delivered me.” [In 2 Samuel 22:48 Dr. Erdmann renders the verbs in past time (gave, subdued) in his translation; the time can be determined only from the context; here the present seems better—Tr.] And from my adversaries thou liftedst me on high—that Isaiah, on a rock, pregnant construction for: thou liftedst me up and thereby savedst me from my enemies. The declaratory discourse here passes into address. From the man of violent deeds thou savedst me.—Instead of the unusual plural ( Psalm 140:2; Psalm 140:5 [ Psalm 140:1; Psalm 140:4]) the Ps. has the Sing. “man [or, men] of violence.” Most expositors take the phrase collectively: “men of violences,” (as Proverbs 3:31) of a whole class of enemies. But it accords better with this conclusion and with the whole content of the song to refer the phrase to Saul, who is also expressly mentioned in the superscription. In 2 Samuel 22:47 David declares in general what God is to him, and how He has announced and attested Himself to him in all His deeds of deliverance; then in 2 Samuel 22:48 he looks at God’s help against external enemies (“thou broughtest down nations under me”), comp. 2 Samuel 22:29-46; in 2 Samuel 22:49 he recalls the deliverances of the Sauline persecution. With the thought of Saul, whose rejection by the Lord was the cause of his enmity to the Lord’s Anointed called in in his stead, connects itself naturally in David’s mind (on the ground of the Lord’s choice) the thought of the salvation that God has bestowed on him as His Anointed, and—of this he is sure—will also further bestow on him and his seed. This salvation He will also proclaim among the heathen, that they along with Israel may share therein.

50 Therefore I will praise you, O LORD , among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.

GILL, "(2Sa 22:50) Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

K&D, "The grace which the Lord had shown to David was so great, that the praise thereof could not be restricted to the narrow limits of Israel. With the dominion of David over the nations, there spread also the knowledge, and with this the praise, of

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the Lord who had given him the victory. Paul was therefore perfectly justified in quoting the verse before us (2Sa_22:50) in Rom_16:9, along with Deu_32:43 and Psa_117:1, as a proof that the salvation of God was intended for the Gentiles also. The king whose salvation the Lord had magnified, was not David as an individual, but David and his seed for ever-that is to say, the royal family of David which culminated in Christ. David could thus sing praises upon the ground of the promise which he had received (2Sa_7:12-16), and which is repeated almost verbatim in the last clause of

2Sa_22:51. The Chethib מגדיל is the Hiphil participle מג�יל, according to Ps. 18:51; and

the Keri .tower of the fulness of salvation,” is a singular conjecture“ ,מג�ול

LANGE, "2 Samuel 22:50-51. The “therefore” attaches the declaration in these verses as a consequence to the preceding summary laudation of God’s deeds of salvation. David here expresses a resolution and a vow ever to praise the Lord’s name. This vow of thanksgiving he so presents that Hebrews 1) expressly declares his praise (by the therefore) to be a thank-offering due to the Lord, also his rightful fruit from the preceding experiences of his salvation. To thy name will I sing.—The name of God is here the concept [or representative] of all His deeds of deliverance, whereby He has revealed Himself as his God and his people’s, as which David has hitherto praised him2) David declares the extent to which he will proclaim the praise of his God: I will praise thee, O Lord, among the nations,—The nations are not only to be subdued by force, but are now to learn to know the living God of Israel and His salvation; His praise is therefore not to be confined to the land of Israel, but to be proclaimed among the heathen. This presumes that He is the God of the heathen also, and that they are called to share in the salvation revealed to Israel. Comp. Psalm 9:12 [ Psalm 9:11]; Psalm 57:10 [ Psalm 57:9]; Psalm 96:3; Psalm 96:10; Psalm 105:1; Isaiah 12:4. In proof of this truth Paul ( Romans 15:9) quotes this passage along with Psalm 117:1, and Deuteronomy 32:43-52) As the ground of his vow David declares the Lord’s promise of good to Him, and his seed ( 2 Samuel 22:51). “Who makes great the salvation of his king,” literally: “salvations;” the plural indicating the manifoldness and richness of the salvation. The marginal reading: “fullness of salvation” is a singular conjecture,[FN52] and must be rejected; it is obviously instead of the similar form,= “tower,” Psalm 61:4, 3]; Proverbs 18:10 [Eng. A. V. also adopts this reading “tower,” against which, however, are all the ancient versions and the best Heb. manuscripts—Tr.] The text,= “he who makes great,” is to be retained. It refers to the fullness of salvation (certainly to be expected on the ground of the divine promises) that the Lord will bestow in ever increasing richness on His king, the theocratic ruler that He has called and inducted, who regards himself only as God’s instrument. God’s “grace [mercy]” is the source of his “manifestations of salvation.” A threefold prophetic declaration of the future factual proof of this grace to His Anointed, is here expressed: a. David affirms that he is sure of it for himself; the “to David” stands independently, not, as Hengst. says, along with “and to his seed” as definition of the “to his anointed;” b. the promised salvation will, however, be extended to his seed also. The direct reference of these words to the promise in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 is apparent; on the ground of this promise David declares the certainty of continuance through his heirs, of the dominion of his house; c. the testimony of praise culminates in the prophecy of the everlasting duration of God’s manifestations of grace and

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blessing, which will be imparted to David, and his seed according to the promise. Comp. 2 Samuel 7:15-16.

Hupfeld rejects these closing words: “to David and to his seed forevermore” as a later addition to the song (in so far as it is to be ascribed to David) on the following grounds: 1) David would not have spoken of himself by the phrase: “to David,” and2) not David, but only a later adherent of the Davidic dynasty could have said: “and to his seed forevermore.” But these grounds are not valid; for in fact David does call himself by name in 2 Samuel 23:1, and in the prayer 2 Samuel 7:20; 2 Samuel 7:26; and how can the reference to his seed and its continuance be regarded as not Davidic, when David was assured of the perpetuity of the royal dominion of his family by the promise 2 Samuel 7:12 sqq.?—Thenius’ supposition, that the words may have been an afterwards added bit of flattery to David’s posterity, can be explained only by a complete ignoring of David’s hope based on that promise 2 Samuel7, and receives at best meagre support from the very subjective argument that the two preceding clauses sufficed to express the author’s thought—Böttcher regards the whole of 2 Samuel 22:51 as a later addition in imitation of other Davidic conclusions to songs “as homage to the royal house.” But his affirmation that this does not accord with genuine Davidic productions is set aside by the fact that ideas, and even words here agree with David’s words in 2 Samuel7. He further contends that by the retention of 2 Samuel 22:51 the probably significant number 50] is exceeded; but (apart from his “probably,”)—the untenableness of this conjecture is strikingly shown by his manipulation of 2 Samuel 22:3 into two verses in order (after the omission of 2 Samuel 22:51) to get50 verses besides the superscription, while the retention of 2 Samuel 22:51 gives this number already.

On the mutual relation of the two recensions of this song in Psalm 18,2Samuel22, critics are very much divided. Hengstenberg’s view (which is that of the older expositors)—that the two texts are two different recensions of the same song by David himself, both equally authentic and good, the Psalm being the original, and the 2 Sam. the later—is altogether untenable in the face of the not few variations that are obviously unintended, accidental, and are to be referred to the carelessness of the written tradition or the uncertainty of the oral. Thus the carelessness of a transcriber is shown in the interchange of certain letters in 2 Samuel 22:11; 2 Samuel 22:43 (ד and 2 ,(ר Samuel 22:33 (נ and 2 ,(ר Samuel 22:12 ר) and כ), and the omission of words in 2 Samuel 22:13; 2 Samuel 22:36, where the text of the Psalm is complete.—The question as to the originality of the two texts is to be decided by examination of the intentional changes. And to such intentional changes is to be referred a long list of deviations in the Psalm-text as Sommer (Bibl. Abh. I. pp167–173, Bonn, 1846) has convincingly shown in detail. “We find,” he remarks,” occasional free change of text in order to remove possible difficulties, to make clear, by the expression, the antiquated writing, the grammatical forms, and, where it can be easily done, to put what is usual and known in place of what is peculiar in conception or language. For the same reason that the transcriber of the Psalm abandoned the ancient sparseness of vowel-letters (Ges. Lehrg. p51) and, where it seemed necessary, carefully inserted a Waw or Yod, he has resolved and regularly inflected the contracted verbal

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forms, and here and there separated a preposition from a noun, in order to facilitate the apprehension of the words (which were written without vowel-signs) and avoid possible misunderstandings.” (For particulars see Sommer, as above.) It does not however hence appear, that the preference is to be accorded to the Psalm -text that is given it by the latest critics, Gramberg (in Winer, Exeg. St. I:1), De Wette, Hupfeld, Hitzig, Ewald, Olshausen,[FN53] Delitzsch. But neither can the text of 2 Samuel22be regarded as the original, since it contains variations that are explained by careless transcription and tradition (Hupf.), and probably also by the fact that this Psalm, incorporated in a historical book, shared the fate of all historical texts, care for poetic form and rhythm early yielding to regard for the mere sense (Hitzig). It Isaiah, however, characteristic of the text of 2 Samuel22, that it contains not a few “licenses of popular language” (Del.), and that the defective mode of writing, which points to higher antiquity, is the prevailing one. On the other hand in the Psalm -text (which Böttcher calls the “priest-recension” over against the 2 Samuel22as the “laic recension”) a later revision is unmistakable. “The vulgarisms, and in part the archaisms also, are there effaced; the whole style is more cultivated” (Böttch.). Therefore Von Lengerke’s view, that the two texts are of about equal value (comment, crit. de duplic 1 Psalm18 exemplo, Regiom1833, 4) cannot be looked on as proven, but the preference is to be given to the recension in 2 Samuel22on account of its stamp of higher antiquity, which Von Lengerke must admit is given it by its more sparing use of vowel signs. The two recensions are independent of one another, neither of them being the authentic; but 2 Samuel22is the older, whether it was taken from an older manuscript (Ewald), or, as Delitzsch supposes, belonged to the “Annals of David” (Dibre ha-yamim), one of the sources of the Books of Samuel. Böttcher: “Thus then, the text of Psalm 18, Isaiah, as a whole, completer and purer, but 2 Samuel22though somewhat more defective, yet in details truer to the original and archaic form”

PETT 50-51, "And all this was because He was fulfilling His everlasting divine promises to His king and to His Anointed (2 Samuel 7:8-17; see also 1 Samuel 2:10; 1 Samuel 16:13) and was revealing towards him His covenant love (chesed -lovingkindness, covenant love). No wonder then that David expresses his thanks and praise to YHWH among the nations for all that He has so lovingly done for him. He will not fall short in making clear to all the power and love of YHWH.

It will be noted that the Book of Samuel originally began with a look forward to YHWH’s coming king and Anointed one (1 Samuel 2:10), a promise which has now found in David its partial fulfilment, but nevertheless only partial because 2 Samuel 7:8-17 looks forward to a greater fulfilment in an everlasting kingdom. That is what the book is about, the rise and establishment of YHWH’s Anointed.

We finish our commentary on the Psalm by again drawing attention to the wonderful way in which it commences with the idea of David’s total dependence on YHWH (2 Samuel 22:1-7), continues by revealing the almighty power of YHWH by which David was delivered (2 Samuel 22:8-20), and emphasises that that power is only revealed on behalf of those who keep His covenant and seek to

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do His will (2 Samuel 22:21-28). That has been why David has been made successful over all his enemies, with the result being complete victory for His chosen king and Anointed One both over the nations and in every other way (2 Samuel 22:29-51). David is making clear that he owes everything to YHWH.

51 He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever."

GILL, "He is the tower of salvation for his king: and showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore. See Gill on Psa_18:50.

HENRY, "For his seed: He showeth mercy to his Messiah (2Sa_22:51), not only to David himself, but to that seed of his for evermore. David was himself anointed of God, not a usurper, but duly called to the government and qualified for it; therefore he doubted not but God would show mercy to him, that mercy which he had promised not to take from him nor from his posterity (2Sa_7:15, 2Sa_7:16); on that promise he depends, with an eye to Christ, who alone is his seed for evermore, whose throne and kingdom still continue, and will to the end, whereas the seed and lineage of David are long since extinct. See Psa_89:28, Psa_89:29. Thus all his joys and all his hopes terminate, as ours should, in the great Redeemer.

ELLICOTT, "(51) He is the tower of salvation.—This translation follows the margin of the Hebrew. The text is found in the ancient versions and in Psalms 18:50. “Great deliverance giveth he.” The difference in the original between the consonants of the two words is extremely slight.

This brief review of these two recensions of this magnificent hymn is instructive, as showing that Providence has dealt with the MSS. of the Old Testament as with those of the New, securing them during the long succession of ages from all substantial error, and yet not so destroying ordinary human action but that mere slips of the pen should sometimes creep in, and care and diligence be required to ascertain precisely what was originally written, and sometimes, perhaps, in the merest minutiæ, leaving the original form still uncertain.

The Psalm is a grand anthem of thanksgiving of David for the many mercies he had received—a full and confident expression of his trust in God under all circumstances, and of his well-assured hope in the fulfilment of the Divine promise of the perpetuity of his kingdom through the coming of Him “in whom

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all the families of the earth should be blessed.”

HAWKER, "Verse 51

REFLECTIONS

READER! let us not dismiss this chapter with all its precious contents from our minds, until that we have duly pondered the blessed things it contains; and as duly examined our own personal interest in them. Can you and I say with the same lively sentiments of praise and love, and gratitude, as David did, The LORD is my rock, my shield, my tower, my refuge, my Saviour. Oh! precious thought, when the soul hath a well grounded assurance of a covenant interest in JESUS.

But Reader! while we seek earnestly for these things, let us learn also from it, how all such as are called to an interest in JESUS, are called also to a fellowship and conformity in the trials of JESUS, and the persecution of enemies. Communion with our Great Head must necessarily subject every member of his mystical body to a participation in suffering. Waves of death, and floods of ungodly men, will compass us about. We wrestle with flesh, and blood, with evil angels, with ungodly men, with the rulers of the darkness of this world, with the Sauls, and, the Absaloms, and the Shimei's everywhere around. Oh! for grace to see, and faith to believe, that in GOD'S strength alone our victory must be wrought. JESUS will light our candle; JESUS himself will be our shield, our sun, our hiding place, our refuge.

But principally, in the review of this chapter, LORD give both Writer and Reader to contemplate JESUS, the Almighty David of his people, as conquering sin, death, hell, and the grave; and beating down all the foes of our salvation, which opposed the deliverance of his people. Yes! Almighty Conqueror! thou art all that is here; rehearsed, and infinitely more, to thy people! In thy complete and finished work, when thou camest forth for the salvation of thy chosen, thou didst triumph over all opposition; thou hast spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, nailing them to thy cross. Blessed GOD! enable me to follow thee to victory, and continually to go forth in thy strength, and in thy name, making mention of thy righteousness, even thine only, saying I shall be more than conqueror through thee who has loved me.

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