Psalms 18 commentary

The first words, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength,” are the scope and contents of the psalm. Those that truly love God, may triumph in him as their Rock and Refuge, and may with confidence call upon him. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it. David was a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. God's manifestation of his presence is very fully described, verses 7–15. Little appeared of man, but much of God, in these deliverances. It is not possible to apply to the history of the son of Jesse those awful, majestic, and stupendous words which are used through this description of the Divine manifestation. Every part of so solemn a scene of terrors tells us, a greater than David is here. God will not only deliver his people out of their troubles in due time, but he will bear them up under their troubles in the mean time. Can we meditate on verse 18, without directing one thought to Gethsemane and Calvary? Can we forget that it was in the hour of Christ's deepest calamity, when Judas betrayed, when his friends forsook, when the multitude derided him, and the smiles of his Father's love were withheld, that the powers of darkness prevented him? The sorrows of death surrounded him, in his distress he prayed, Heb 5:7. God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.

Those that forsake the ways of the Lord, depart from their God. But though conscious to ourselves of many a false step, let there not be a wicked departure from our God. David kept his eye upon the rule of God's commands. Constant care to keep from that sin, whatever it be, which most easily besets us, proves that we are upright before God. Those who show mercy to others, even they need mercy. Those who are faithful to God, shall find him all that to them which he has promised to be. The words of the Lord are pure words, very sure to be depended on, and very sweet to be delighted in. Those who resist God, and walk contrary to him, shall find that he will walk contrary to them, Le 26:21–24. The gracious recompence of which David spoke, may generally be expected by those who act from right motives. Hence he speaks comfort to the humble, and terror to the proud; “Thou wilt bring down high looks.” And he speaks encouragement to himself; “Thou wilt light my candle:” thou wilt revive and comfort my sorrowful spirit; thou wilt guide my way, that I may avoid the snares laid for me. Thou wilt light my candle to work by, and give me an opportunity of serving thee. Let those that walk in darkness, and labour under discouragements, take courage; God himself will be a Light to them.

When we praise for one mercy, we must observe the many more, with which we have been compassed all our days. Many things had contributed to David's advancement, and he owns the hand of God in them all, to teach us to do likewise. In verse 32, and the following verses, are the gifts of God to the spiritual warrior, whereby he is prepared for the contest, after the example of his victorious Leader. Learn that we must seek release being made through Christ, shall be rejected. In David the type, we behold out of trouble through Christ. The prayer put up, without reconciliation Jesus our Redeemer, conflicting with enemies, compassed with sorrows and with floods of ungodly men, enduring not only the pains of death, but the wrath of God for us; yet calling upon the Father with strong cries and tears; rescued from the grave; proceeding to reconcile, or to put under his feet all other enemies, till death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. We should love the Lord, our Strength, and our Salvation; we should call on him in every trouble, and praise him for every deliverance; we should aim to walk with him in all righteousness and true holiness, keeping from sin. If we belong to him, he conquers and reigns for us, and we shall conquer and reign through him, and partake of the mercy of our anointed King, which is promised to all his seed for evermore. Amen.

PSALM 18.

We all know through what difficulties and almost insurmountable obstacles David came to the kingdom. Even to the time of Saul’s death he was a fugitive, and, as it were, an outlaw, and wearily passed his life in fear, amidst many threatenings and dangers of death. After God had, with his own hand, placed him on the royal throne, he was immediately harassed with the tumults and insurrections of his own subjects, and the hostile faction being superior to him in power, he was often at the point of being completely overthrown. Foreign enemies, on the other hand, severely tried him even to his old age. These calamities he would never have surmounted had he not been aided by the power of God. Having therefore obtained many and signal victories, he does not, as irreligious men are accustomed to do, sing a song of triumph in honor of himself, but exalts and magnifies God the author of these victories, by a train of striking and appropriate epithets, and in a style of surpassing grandeur and sublimity. This psalm, therefore, is the first of those psalms in which David celebrates, in lofty strains, the wonderful grace which God had shown towards him, both in putting him in possession of the kingdom, and in afterwards maintaining him in it. He also shows that his reign was an image and type of the kingdom of Christ, to teach and assure the faithful that Christ, in spite of the whole world, and of all the resistance which it can make, will, by the stupendous and incomprehensible power of the Father, be always victorious.

To the chief musician of David, the servant of Jehovah, who sung to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.

We ought carefully to mark the particular time when this psalm was composed, as it shows us that David, when his affairs were brought to a state of peace and prosperity, was not intoxicated with extravagant joy like irreligious men, who, when they have obtained deliverance from their calamities, shake off from their minds the remembrance of God’s benefits, and plunge themselves into gross and degrading pleasures, or erect their crests, and obscure the glory of God by their proud and vain boasting. David, as the sacred history relates, (2 Samuel 22:1,) sung this song to the Lord, when he was now almost spent with age, and when, being delivered from all his troubles, he enjoyed tranquillity. The inscription here agrees with that account, and, from What is there stated, we conclude, that it has not been improperly or incorrectly prefixed to this psalm. David points out the time when it was sung, namely, after God had delivered him from all his enemies, to show us that he was then in perfectly quiet possession of his kingdom, and that God had assisted him not once, nor against one kind of enemies only; seeing his conflicts were from time to time renewed, and the end of one war was the commencement of another; yea, many armies often rose up against him at the same time. Since the creation of the world, we will scarcely find another individual in it whom God has tried by so many and so varied afflictions. As Saul had persecuted him with more cruelty, and with greater fury and determination than all others, his name on that account is here expressly mentioned, although, in the preceding clause, the Psalmist had spoken in general terms of all his enemies. Saul is not put last, as if he had been one of his later enemies, “Car il ne faut pas penser qu’il soit mis en dernier lieu, comme celuy dont il fust plus fresche memoire, que de tons les autres.” — Fr. “It is not necessary to suppose that Saul is put last, as he of whom he retained a fresher remembrance than of all his other enemies.” for his death had taken place about thirty years previous to this time; and since that event David had discomfited many foreign enemies, and had also suppressed the rebellion of his own son Absalom. But, persuaded that it was a singular manifestation of the grace of God towards him, and eminently worthy of being remembered, that he had for so many years escaped from innumerable deaths, or rather that as many days as he had lived under the reign of Saul, God had wrought, as it were, so many miracles for his deliverance, he firstly mentions and celebrates in particular his deliverance from the hands of this relentless enemy. By calling himself the servant of God, he doubtless intended to bear testimony to his call to be king, as if he had said, I have not rashly, and by my own authority, usurped the kingdom, but have only acted in obedience to the oracle of heaven. And, indeed, amidst the many storms which he had to encounter, it was a support highly necessary to be well assured in his own mind of having undertaken nothing but by the appointment of God; or rather, this was to him a peaceful haven, and a secure retreat in the midst of so many broils and strange calamities. “Ou plustost ce luy avoit este un bon port et retraite seure au milieu de tant d’esclandres et calamitez estranges.” — Fr. There is not a more wretched object than mail in adversity, when he has brought himself into distress by acting according to the mere impulse of his own mind, and not by acting in obedience to the call of God. David, therefore, had a good reason for wishing it to be known that it was not ambition which impelled him to enter into those contests which were so painful and difficult for him to bear, and that he had not attempted any thing unlawful or by wicked means, but had always kept steadily in view the will of God, which served as a light to guide him in his path. This is a point which it is highly useful for us to know, in order that we may not expect to be exempted from all trouble, when we follow the call of God, but may rather prepare ourselves for a condition of warfare painful and disagreeable to our flesh. The name servant, therefore, in this passage, as in many others, relates to his public office; just as when the prophets and apostles call themselves the servants of God, they have a reference to their official character. It is as if he had said, I am not a king of my own creation, but have been chosen by God to fill that high station. At the same time, we ought particularly to notice the humility of David, who, although distinguished by so many victories, and the conqueror of so many nations, and possessed of so great dignity and wealth, honors himself with no other title than this, The servant of God; as if he meant to show that he accounted it more honorable to have faithfully performed the duties of the office with which God had invested him, than to possess all the honors and excellence of the world.

Psalm 18:1-2

1. And he said, I will affectionately love thee, This is the rendering of the French version. The word in the Hebrew text, which is רחם, racham, is very expressive. “רחם,” says Cocceius, “est intime ac medullitus cum motu omnium viscerum diligere;” — “is to love with the deepest and strongest affections of the heart, with all of all the bowels.” Ainsworth reads, “I will dearly love thee;” Street, “I love thee exceedingly;” Bishop Horne, “With all the yearnings of affection I will love thee, O Jehovah;” and Dr Adam Clarke, “From my inmost bowels will I love thee, O Lord.” The word, therefore, denotes the tenderness and intensity of David’s emotions. O Jehovah, my strength. 2. Jehovah is my rock, The Hebrew word literally means a cliff or crag; and is a different word from the one which is translated rock in the following part of this verse. “The word סלע, sela,” says Dr Adam Clarke, “signifies those craggy precipices which afforded shelter to men and animals; where the bees often made their nests, and whence honey was collected in great abundance. ‘He made him to suck honey out of the rock,’ Deuteronomy 32:13.” a my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, I will trust in him my shield, and the horn The horn is the emblem of strength and power. The metaphor is taken from the bull and other powerful animals, who put forth their strength principally by the use of their horns. of my salvation, my refuge.

1. And he said, etc. I will not stop to examine too minutely the syllables, or the few words, in which this psalm differs from the song which is recorded in the twenty-second chapter of the Second Book of Samuel. When, however, we meet with any important difference, we shall advert to it in the proper place; and we find one in the remarkable sentence with which this psalm commences, I will love thee affectionately, O Jehovah, my strength, which is omitted in the song in Samuel. As the Scripture does not use the verb רהם, racham, for to love, except in the conjugation pihel, and as it is here put in the conjugation kal, some of the Jewish expositors explain it as here meaning to seek mercy; as if David had said, Lord, since I have so often experienced thee to be a merciful God, I will trust to and repose in thy mercies for ever. And certainly this exposition would not be unsuitable, but I am unwilling to depart from the other, which is more generally received. It is to be observed, that love to God is here laid down as constituting the principal part of true godliness; for there is no better way of serving God than to love him. No doubt, the service which we owe him is better expressed by the word reverence, that thus his majesty may prominently stand forth to our view in its infinite greatness. But as he requires nothing so expressly as to possess all the affections of our heart, and to have them going out towards him, so there is no sacrifice which he values more than when we are bound fast to him by the chain of a free and spontaneous love; and, on the other hand, there is nothing in which his glory shines forth more conspicuously than in his free and sovereign goodness. Moses, therefore, (Deuteronomy 10:12,) when he meant to give a summary of the law, says,

“And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to love him?”

In speaking thus, David, at the same time, intended to show that his thoughts and affections were not so intently fixed upon the benefits of God as to be ungrateful to him who was the author of them, a sin which has been too common in all ages. Even at this day we see how the greater part of mankind enjoy wholly at their ease the gifts of God without paying any regard to him, or, if they think of him at all, it is only to despise him. David, to prevent himself from falling into this ingratitude, in these words makes as it were a solemn vow, Lord, as thou art my strength, I will continue united and devoted to thee by unfeigned love.

PSALM 18

Psa 18:1-50. "The servant of the Lord," which in the Hebrew precedes "David," is a significant part of the title (and not a mere epithet of David), denoting the inspired character of the song, as the production of one entrusted with the execution of God's will. He was not favored by God because he served Him, but served Him because selected and appointed by God in His sovereign mercy. After a general expression of praise and confidence in God for the future, David gives a sublimely poetical description of God's deliverance, which he characterizes as an illustration of God's justice to the innocent and His righteous government. His own prowess and success are celebrated as the results of divine aid, and, confident of its continuance, he closes in terms of triumphant praise. 2Sa 22:1-51 is a copy of this Psalm, with a few unimportant variations recorded there as a part of the history, and repeated here as part of a collection designed for permanent use.

1. I will love thee--with most tender affection.

2-3. The various terms used describe God as an object of the most implicit and reliable trust.

rock--literally, "a cleft rock," for concealment.

strength--a firm, immovable rock.

horn of my salvation--The horn, as the means of attack or defense of some of the strongest animals, is a frequent emblem of power or strength efficiently exercised (compare De 33:17; Lu 1:69).

tower--literally, "high place," beyond reach of danger.

4. sorrows--literally, "bands as of a net" (Psa 116:3).

floods--denotes "multitude."

5. death--and hell (compare Psa 16:10) are personified as man's great enemies (compare Re 20:13, 14).

prevented--encountered me, crossed my path, and endangered my safety. He does not mean he was in their power.

6. He relates his methods to procure relief when distressed, and his success.

temple--(Compare Psa 11:4).

7-8. God's coming described in figures drawn from His appearance on Sinai (compare De 32:22).

9. darkness--or, a dense cloud (Ex 19:16; De 5:22).

10. cherub--angelic agents (compare Ge 3:24), the figures of which were placed over the ark (1Sa 4:4), representing God's dwelling; used here to enhance the majesty of the divine advent. Angels and winds may represent all rational and irrational agencies of God's providence (compare Psa 104:3, 4).

did fly--Rapidity of motion adds to the grandeur of the scene.

11. dark waters--or, clouds heavy with vapor.

12. Out of this obscurity, which impresses the beholder with awe and dread, He reveals Himself by sudden light and the means of His terrible wrath (Jos 10:11; Psa 78:47).

13. The storm breaks forth--thunder follows lightning, and hail with repeated lightning, as often seen, like balls or coals of fire, succeed (Ex 9:23).

14. The fiery brightness of lightning, in shape like burning arrows rapidly shot through the air, well represents the most terrible part of an awful storm. Before the terrors of such a scene the enemies are confounded and overthrown in dismay.

15. The tempest of the air is attended by appropriate results on earth. The language, though not expressive of any special physical changes, represents the utter subversion of the order of nature. Before such a God none can stand.

16-19. from above--As seated on a throne, directing these terrible scenes, God--

sent--His hand (Psa 144:7), reached down to His humble worshipper, and delivered him.

many waters--calamities (Job 30:14; Psa 124:4, 5).

20-24. The statements of innocence, righteousness, &c., refer, doubtless, to his personal and official conduct and his purposes, during all the trials to which he was subjected in Saul's persecutions and Absalom's rebellions, as well as the various wars in which he had been engaged as the head and defender of God's Church and people.

25-27. God renders to men according to their deeds in a penal, not vindictive, sense (Le 26:23, 24).

merciful--or, "kind" (Psa 4:3).

28. To give one light is to make prosperous (Job 18:5, 6; 21:17).

thou--is emphatic, as if to say, I can fully confide in Thee for help.

29. And this on past experience in his military life, set forth by these figures.

30-32. God's perfection is the source of his own, which has resulted from his trust on the one hand, and God's promised help on the other.

tried--"as metals are tried by fire and proved genuine" (Psa 12:6). Shield (Psa 3:3). Girding was essential to free motion on account of the looseness of Oriental dresses; hence it is an expressive figure for describing the gift of strength.

33-36. God's help farther described. He gives swiftness to pursue or elude his enemies (Ha 3:19), strength, protection, and a firm footing.

37-41. In actual conflict, with God's aid, the defeat of his enemies is certain. A present and continued success is expressed.

42. This conquest was complete.

43-45. Not only does He conquer civil foes, but foreigners, who are driven from their places of refuge.

46. The Lord liveth--contrasts Him with idols (1Co 8:4).

47-48. avengeth me--His cause is espoused by God as His own.

49-50. Paul (Ro 15:9) quotes from this doxology to show that under the Old Testament economy, others than the Jews were regarded as subjects of that spiritual government of which David was head, and in which character his deliverances and victories were typical of the more illustrious triumphs of David's greater Son. The language of Psa 18:50 justifies this view in its distinct allusion to the great promise (compare 2Sa 7:12). In all David's successes he saw the pledges of a fulfilment of that promise, and he mourned in all his adversities, not only in view of his personal suffering, but because he saw in them evidences of danger to the great interests which were committed to his keeping. It is in these aspects of his character that we are led properly to appreciate the importance attached to his sorrows and sufferings, his joys and successes.

I will love thee - Love always subsists on motive and reason. The verb רחם racham signifies to love with all the tender feelinys of nature. "From my inmost bowels will I love thee, O Lord!" Why should he love Jehovah? Not merely because he was infinitely great and good, possessed of all possible perfections, but because he was good to him: and he here enumerates some of the many blessings he received from him.

My strength -

1. Thou who hast given me power over my adversaries, and hast enabled me to avoid evil and do good.

The Lord is my rock -

2. I stand on him as my foundation, and derive every good from him who is the source of good. The word סלע sela signifies those craggy precipices which afford shelter to men and wild animals; where the bees often made their nests, and whence honey was collected in great abundance. "He made him to suck honey out of the rock," Deu 32:13.

3. He was his fortress; a place of strength and safety, fortified by nature and art, where he could be safe from his enemies. He refers to those inaccessible heights in the rocky, mountainous country of Judea, where he had often found refuge from the pursuit of Saul. What these have been to my body, such has the Lord been to my soul.

Deliverer -

4. מפלתי mephalleti, he who causes me to escape. This refers to his preservation in straits and difficulties. He was often almost surrounded and taken, but still the Lord made a way for his escape - made a way out as his enemies got in; so that, while they got in at one side of his strong hold, he got out of the other, and so escaped with his life. These escapes were so narrow and so unlikely that he plainly saw the hand of the Lord was in them.

5. My God, אלי ,doG Eli, my strong God, not only the object of my adoration, but he who puts strength in my soul.

6. My strength, צורי tsuri. This is a different word from that in the first verse.

Rabbi Maimon has observed that צור tsur, when applied to God, signifies fountain, source, origin, etc. God is not only the source whence my being was derived, but he is the fountain whence I derive all my good; in whom, says David, I will trust. And why? Because he knew him to be an eternal and inexhaustible fountain of goodness. This fine idea is lost in our translation; for we render two Hebrew words of widely different meaning, by the same term in English, strength.

7. My buckler, מגני maginni, my shield, my defender, he who covers my head and my heart, so that I am neither slain nor wounded by the darts of my adversaries.

8. Horn of my salvation. Horn was the emblem of power, and power in exercise. This has been already explained; see on 1Sam 2:1 (note). The horn of salvation means a powerful, an efficient salvation.

9. My high tourer; not only a place of defense, but one from which I can discern the country round about, and always be able to discover danger before it approaches me.

I will call upon the Lord - When he was conscious that the object of his worship was such as he has pointed out in the above nine particulars, it is no wonder that he resolves to call upon him; and no wonder that he expects, in consequence, to be saved from his enemies; for who can destroy him whom such a God undertakes to save?

The sorrows of death compassed me - חבלי מות chebley maveth, the cables or cords of death. He was almost taken in those nets or stratagems by which, if he had been entangled, he would have lost his life. The stratagems to which he refers were those that were intended for his destruction; hence called the cables or cords of death.

The floods of ungodly men - Troops of wicked men were rushing upon him like an irresistible torrent; or like the waves of the sea, one impelling another forward in successive ranks; so that, thinking he must be overwhelmed by them, he was for the moment affrighted; but God turned the torrent aside, and he escaped.

The sorrows of hell - חבלי שאול chebley sheol, the cables or cords of the grave. Is not this a reference to the cords or ropes with which they lowered the corpse into the grave? or the bandages by which the dead were swathed? He was as good as dead.

The snares of death prevented me - I was just on the point of dropping into the pit which they had digged for me. In short, I was all but a dead man; and nothing less than the immediate interference of God could have saved my life.

In my distress I called - His enemies had no hope of his destruction unless God should abandon him. They hoped that this was the case, and that therefore they should prevail. But God heard his cry and came down to his help; and this interference is most majestically described in the Psa 18:7 and following verses. Dr. Dodd has collected some excellent observations on these verses from Chandler, Delaney, and others, which I shall transcribe, as I know not that any thing better can be offered on the subject.

Then the earth shook and trembled - "In this and the following verses David describes, by the sublimest expressions and grandest terms, the majesty of God, and the awful manner in which he came to his assistance. The representation of the storm in these verses must be allowed by all skillful and impartial judges to be truly sublime and noble, and in the genuine spirit of poetry. The majesty of God, and the manner in which he is represented as coming to the aid of his favourite king, surrounded with all the powers of nature as his attendants and ministers, and arming (as it were) heaven and earth to fight his battles, and execute his vengeance, is described in the loftiest and most striking terms. The shaking of the earth; the trembling of the mountains and pillars of heaven; the smoke that drove out of his nostrils; the flames of devouring fire that flashed from his mouth; the heavens bending down to convey him to the battle; his riding upon a cherub, and rapidly flying on the wings of a whirlwind; his concealing his majesty in the thick clouds of heaven; the bursting of the lightnings from the horrid darkness; the uttering of his voice in peals of thunder; the storm of fiery hail; the melting of the heavens, and their dissolving into floods of tempestuous rain; the cleaving of the earth, and disclosing of the bottom of the hills, and the subterraneous channels or torrents of water, by the very breath of the nostrils of the Almighty; are all of them circumstances which create admiration, excite a kind of horror, and exceed every thing of this nature that is to be found in any of the remains of heathen antiquity. See Longinus on the Sublime, sec. 9, and Hesiod's description of Jupiter fighting against the Titans, which is one of the grandest things in all pagan antiquity; though upon comparison it will be found infinitely short of this description of the psalmist's; throughout the whole of which God is represented as a mighty warrior going forth to fight the battles of David, and highly incensed at the opposition his enemies made to his power and authority. "When he descended to the engagement the very heavens bowed down to render his descent more awful, his military tent was substantial darkness; the voice of his thunder was the warlike alarm which sounded to the battle; the chariot in which he rode was the thick clouds of heaven, conducted by cherubs, and carried on by the irresistible force and rapid wings of an impetuous tempest; and the darts and weapons he employed were thunderbolts, lightnings, fiery hail, deluging rains, and stormy winds! "No wonder that when God thus arose, all his enemies should be scattered, and those who hated him should flee before him. "It does not appear from any part of David's history that there was any such storm as is here described, which proved destructive to his enemies, and salutary to himself. There might, indeed, have been such a one, though there is no particular mention of it: unless it may be thought that something of this nature is intimated in the account given of David's second battle with the Philistines, 2Sam 5:23, 2Sam 5:24. It is undoubted, however, that the storm is represented as real; though David, in describing it, has heightened and embellished it with all the ornaments of poetry. See Chandler, Delaney, and Lowth's ninth Prelection.

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils - Or, 'There ascended into his nostrils a smoke,' as the words, literally rendered, signify. The ancients placed the seat of anger in the nose, or nostrils; because when the passions are warm and violent, it discovers itself by the heated vehement breath which proceeds from them. Hence the physiognomists considered open wide nostrils as a sign of an angry, fiery disposition. "This description of a smoke arising into and a fire breaking forth from the nostrils of God, denotes, by a poetical figure, the greatness of his anger and indignation. "Fire out of his mouth devoured - means that consuming fire issued out of his mouth. Coals were kind led by it, thus we render the next clause; but the words do not mean that fire proceeding from God kindled coals, but that burning coals issued from his mouth; and it should be rendered 'living coals from his mouth burned, and consumed around him.' - Chandler.

He bowed the heavens also, and came down - He made the heavens bend under him when he descended to take vengeance on his enemies. The psalmist seems here to express the appearance of the Divine majesty in a glorious cloud, descending from heaven, which underneath was substantially dark, but above, bright, and shining with exceeding lustre; and which, by its gradual approach to the earth, would appear as though the heavens themselves were bending down and approaching towards us.

He rode upon a cherub, and did fly - That is, as it is immediately explained, Yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. God was in the storm, and by the ministry of angels guided the course of it, and drove it on with such an impetuous force as nothing could withstand. He 'rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.' Angels are in a peculiar sense the attendants and messengers of the Almighty, whom he employs as his ministers in effecting many of those great events which take place in the administration of his providence; and particularly such as manifest his immediate interposition in the extraordinary judgments which he inflicts for the punishment of sinful nations. See Psa 103:20; Psa 104:4. The cherub is particularly mentioned as an emblem of the Divine presence, and especially as employed in supporting and conveying the chariot of the Almighty, when he is represented as riding in his majesty through the firmament of heaven: - - Forth rush'd with whirlwind sound

The chariot of paternal Deity;

Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,

Itself instinct with spirit, but convey'd

By four cherubic shapes.

Par. Lost, lib. vi.

This seems to be the image intended to be conveyed in the place before us. "He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; he flew on the wings of the wind," i.e., the cherub supported and led on the tempest, in which the Almighty rode as in his chariot. This is agreeable to the office elsewhere ascribed to the cherubim. Thus they supported the mercy-seat, which was peculiarly the throne of God under the Jewish economy. God is expressly said to "make the clouds his chariot," Psa 104:3; and to "ride upon a swift cloud," Isa 19:1 : so that "riding upon a cherub," and "riding upon a swift cloud," is riding in the cloud as his chariot, supported and guided by the ministry of the cherubim. The next clause in the parallel place of Samuel is, "He was seen on the wings of the wind;" ירא yera, he was seen, being used for ידא yede, he flew, ד daleth being changed into ר resh. Either of them may be the true reading, for the MSS. are greatly divided on these places; but on the whole וירא vaiyera appears to be the better reading: "And he was seen on the wings of the wind."

As the original has been supposed by adequate judges to exhibit a fine specimen of that poetry which, in the choice of its terms, conveys both sense and sound, I will again lay it before the reader, as I have done in the parallel place, 2Sam 22:2. The words in italic to be read from right to left. ויעף כרוב על וירכב vaiyaoph kerub al vayirkab And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly! רוח כנפי על וידא ruach canphey al waiyede Yea, he flew on the wings of the wind! The word רוח ruach, in the last line, should be pronounced, not ruak, which is no Hebrew word: but as a Scottish man would pronounce it, were it written ruagh. With this observation, how astonishingly is the rushing of the wind heard in the last word of each hemistich! Sternhold and Hopkins have succeeded in their version of this place, not only beyond all they ever did, but beyond every ancient and modern poet on a similar subject: - "On cherub and on cherubinFull royally he rode;

And on the wings of mighty windsCame flying all abroad."

Even the old Anglo-Scottish Psalter has not done amiss: -

And he steygh aboven cherubyn and he flow;

He flow aboven the fethers of wyndes.

He made darkness his secret place - God is represented as dwelling in the thick darkness, Deu 4:11; Psa 97:2. This representation in the place before us is peculiarly proper; as thick heavy clouds deeply charged, and with lowering aspects, are always the forerunners and attendants of a tempest, and greatly heighten the horrors of the appearance: and the representation of them, spread about the Almighty as a tent, is truly grand and poetic.

Dark waters - The vapors strongly condensed into clouds; which, by the stroke of the lightning, are about to be precipitated in torrents of rain. See the next verse.

At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed - The word נגה nogah signifies the lightning. This goes before him: the flash is seen before the thunder is heard, and before the rain descends; and then the thick cloud passes. Its contents are precipitated on the earth, and the cloud is entirely dissipated.

Hail-stones and coals of fire - This was the storm that followed the flash and the peal; for it is immediately added: -

The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice - And then followed the hail and coals of fire. The former verse mentioned the lightning, with its effects; this gives us the report of the thunder, and the increasing storm of hail and fire that attended it. Some think the words hail-stones and coals of fire are entered here by some careless transcribers from the preceding verse; and it is true that they are wanting in the Septuagint and the Arabic, in the parallel place in 2 Samuel, and in five of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. I should rather, with Bishop Horsley, suppose them to be an interpolation in the preceding verse: or in that to have been borrowed from this; for this most certainly is their true place.

Be sent out his arrows - he shot out lightning - I believe the latter clause to be an illustration of the former. He sent out his arrows - that is, he shot out lightning; for lightnings are the arrows of the Lord, and there is something very like the arrowhead apparent in the zigzag lightning. Sense and sound are wonderfully combined in the Hebrew of this last clause: וברכים רב ויהמם uberakim rab vaihummem, "and thunderings he multiplied and confounded them." Who does not hear the bursting, brattling, and pounding of thunder in these words? See Delaney?

The channels of water were seen - This must refer to an earthquake; for in such cases, the ground being rent, water frequently gushes out at the fissures, and often rises to a tremendous height. Whole rivers were poured out of the chasms made by the earthquake in Jamaica, A. D. 1694; and new lakes of water were formed, covering a thousand acres of land!

He drew me out of many waters - Here the allusion is still carried on. The waters thus poured out were sweeping the people away; but God, by a miraculous interference, sent and drew David out. Sometimes waters are used to denote multitudes of people; and here the word may have that reference; multitudes were gathered together against David, but God delivered him from them all. This seems to be countenanced by the following verse.

He delivered me from my strong enemy - Does not this refer to his conflict with Ishbi-benob? "And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant - thought to have slain David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel;" 2Sam 21:16, 2Sam 21:17. It appears that at this time he was in the most imminent danger of his life, and that he must have fallen by the hands of the giant, if God had not sent Abishai to his assistance. They were too strong for me. He was nearly overpowered by the Philistines; and his escape was such as evidently to show it to be supernatural.

They prevented me in the day of my calamity - They took advantage of the time in which I was least able to make head against them, and their attack was sudden and powerful. I should have been overthrown, but the Lord was my stay. He had been nearly exhausted by the fatigue of the day, when the giant availed himself of this advantage.

He brought me forth also into a large place - He enabled me to clear the country of my foes, who had before cooped me up in holes and corners. This appears to be the allusion.

The Lord rewarded me - David proceeds to give the reasons why God had so marvellously interposed in his behalf.

According to my righteousness - Instead of being an enemy to Saul, I was his friend. I dealt righteously with him while he dealt unrighteously with me.

I have kept the ways of the Lord - I was neither an infidel nor a profligate; I trusted in God, and carefully observed all the ordinances of his religion.

All his judgments were before me - I kept his law before my eyes, that I might see my duty and know how to walk and please God.

I was also upright - The times in which David was most afflicted were the times of his greatest uprightness. Adversity was always to him a time of spiritual prosperity.

Mine iniquity - Probably meaning what is generally termed the easily-besetting sin; the sin of his constitution, or that to which the temperament of his body most powerfully disposed him. What this was, is a subject of useless conjecture.

With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful - Thou wilt deal with men as they deal with each other. This is the general tenor of God's providential conduct towards mankind; well expressed by Mr. Pope in his universal prayer: - "Teach me to feel another's wo;To hide the fault I see:

The mercy I to others show,That mercy show to me."

It is in reference to this that our Lord teaches us to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." If we act feelingly and mercifully towards our fellow creatures, God will act tenderly and compassionately towards us. The merciful, the upright, and the pure, will ever have the God of mercy, uprightness, and purity, to defend and support them.

With the froward - עקש ikkesh, the perverse man; he that is crooked in his tempers and ways.

Thou wilt show thyself froward - תתפתל tithpattal, thou wilt set thyself to twist, twine, and wrestle. If he contend, thou wilt contend with him. Thou wilt follow him through all his windings; thou wilt trace him through all his crooked ways; untwist him in all his cunning wiles; and defeat all his schemes of stubbornness, fraud, overreaching, and deceit.

My old Psalter has, With the wiked thow sal be wike. Here the term wicked is taken in its true original sense, crooked, or perverse. With the wiked, the perverse, thou wilt show thyself wike, i.e., perverse; from to draw back, to slide. As he draws back from thee, thou wilt draw back from him. It may, as before intimated, come from to seek for enchantments; leaving God, and going to devils; to act like a witch: but here it must mean as above. The plain import is, "If thou perversely oppose thy Maker, he will oppose thee: no work or project shall prosper that is not begun in his name, and conducted in his fear."

For thou wilt save the afflicted - The afflicted are the humble; and those thou hast ever befriended.

For thou wilt light my candle - Thou wilt restore me to prosperity, and give me a happy issue out of all my afflictions. By the lamp of David the Messiah may be meant: thou wilt not suffer my family to become extinct, nor the kingdom which thou hast promised me utterly to fail.

I have run through a troop - This may relate to some remarkable victory, and the taking of some fortified place, possibly Zion, from the Jebusites. See the account 2Sam 5:6-8 (note).

God, his way is perfect - His conduct is like his nature, absolutely pure.

The word of the Lord is tried - Literally tried in the fire. It has stood all tests; and has never failed those who pleaded it before its author.

He is a buckler - A sure protection to every simple believing soul. We cannot believe his word too implicity; nor trust too confidently in him.

For who is God save the Lord? - "For who is Eloah, except Jehovah?" None is worthy of adoration but the self-existent, eternal, infinitely perfect, and all-merciful Being.

Or who is a rock - A fountain emitting continual supplies of grace and goodness.

God - girdeth me with strength - The girdle was a necessary part of the Eastern dress; it strengthened and supported the loins; served to confine the garments close to the body; and in it they tucked them up when journeying. The strength of God was to his soul what the girdle was to the body. I need not add, that the girdle was also an ornamental part of the dress, and from it the sword was suspended.

And maketh my way perfect - He directs me so that I do not go astray; he blesses me in my undertakings; and by him the issue of my labors is crowned with prosperity.

My feet like hinds' feet - Swiftness, or speed of foot, was a necessary qualification of an ancient hero. This was of great advantage in pursuing, combating, or escaping from a fallen foe. Ποδας ωκυς Αχιλλευς, "the swiftfooted Achilles," is frequently given by Homer as a most honorable qualification of his hero.

Upon my high places - In allusion to the hinds, antelopes, mountain goats, etc., which frequented such places, and in which they found both food and safety. God frequently preserved the life of David by means of these.

He teacheth my hands to war - The success which I have had in my military exercises I owe to the Divine help. How few of the conquerors of mankind can say so! And how few among those who call themselves Christian warriors dare to say so! War is as contrary to the spirit of Christianity as murder. Nothing can justify Christian nations in shedding each other's blood! All men should live in peace; all men might live in peace; and the nation that is first to break it is under a heavy curse.

A bow of steel is broken by mine arms - All the versions render this: "Thou hast made my arm like a brazen bow." A bow of steel is out of the question. In the days of David it is not likely that the method of making steel was known. The method of making brass out of copper was known at a very early period of the world; and the ancients had the art of hardening it, so as to work it into the most efficient swords. From his own account David was swift, courageous, and strong.

The shield of thy salvation - In all battles and dangers God defended him. He was constantly safe because he possessed the salvation of God. Everywhere God protected him. Thy gentleness, ענותך anvathecha, thy meekness or humility. Thou hast enabled me to bear and forbear; to behave with courage in adversity, and with humility in prosperity; and thus I am become great. By these means thou hast multiplied me. The Vulgate reads, Disciplina tua ipsa me docebit; "And thy discipline itself shall teach me." In this sense it was understood by most of the versions. The old Psalter paraphrases thus: Thi chastying suffers me noght to erre fra the end to com.

Enlarged my steps - See on Psa 18:19 (note). From the hand of God he had continual prosperity; and while he walked with God no enemy was able to prevail against him. He details his successes in the following verses.

The necks of mine enemies - Thou hast made me a complete conqueror. Treading on the neck of an enemy was the triumph of the conqueror, and the utmost disgrace of the vanquished.

They cited - The Philistines called upon their gods, but there was none to save them.

Even unto the Lord - Such as Saul, Ishbosheth, Absalom, etc., who, professing to worship the true God, called on him while in their opposition to David; but God no more heard them than their idols heard the Philistines.

Then did I beat them - God was with him, and they had only an arm of flesh. No wonder then that his enemies were destroyed.

Small as the dust before the wind - This well expresses the manner in which he treated the Moabites, Ammonites, and the people of Rabbah: "He put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron; and made them pass through the brick-kiln," etc. See 2Sam 12:31 (note), and the notes there.

The strivings of the people - Disaffections and insurrections among my own subjects, as in the revolt of Absalom, the civil war of Abner in favor of Ish-bosheth, etc.

The head of the heathen - ראש גוים rosh goyim, "the chief," or "governor, of the nations;" all the circumjacent heathen people; all these were subdued by David, and brought under tribute.

A people whom I have not known - The people whom he knew were those of the twelve tribes; those whom he did not know were the Syrians, Philistines, Idumeans, etc. All these served him, that is, paid him tribute.

As soon as they hear of me - His victories were so rapid and splendid over powerful enemies, that they struck a general terror among the people, and several submitted without a contest.

Strangers shall submit themselves unto me - Some translate this: "The children of the foreign woman have lied unto me." This has been understood two ways: My own people, who have sworn fealty to me, have broken their obligation, and followed my rebellious son. Or, The heathens, who have been brought under my yoke, have promised the most cordial obedience, and flattered me with their tongues, while their hearts felt enmity against me and my government. Nevertheless, even in this unwilling subjection I was secure, my police being so efficient, and my kingdom so strong.

The strangers shall fade away - בני נכר beney nechar, the same persons mentioned above. They shall not be able to effect any thing against me; יבלו yibbolu, "they shall fall as the leaves fall off the trees in winter."

And be afraid out of their close places - Those who have formed themselves into banditti, and have taken possession of rocks and fortified places, shall be so afraid when they hear of my successes, that they shall surrender at discretion, without standing a siege. Perhaps all these verbs should be understood in the perfect tense, for David is here evidently speaking of a kingdom at rest, all enemies having been subdued; or, as the title is, when the Lord Had delivered him from all his enemies.

The Lord liveth - By him alone I have gained all my victories; and he continueth, and will be my Rock, the Source whence I may at all times derive help and salvation. May his name be blessed! May his kingdom be exalted!

God that avengeth me - The way that I took was after his own heart; therefore he sustained me in it, and did me justice over my enemies.

Subdueth the people under me - He keeps down the spirits of the disaffected, and weakens their hands. They are subdued, and they continue under me; and this is the Lord's doing.

He delivereth me - That is, he hath delivered me, and continues to deliver me, from all that rise up against me.

The violent man - Saul; this applies particularly to him.

WilI I give thanks unto thee - among the heathen - Quoted by St. Paul, Rom 15:9, to prove that the calling of the Gentiles was predicted, and that what then took place was the fulfillment of that prediction.

But there is a sense in which it applies particularly to David, well observed by Theodoret: "We see," says he, "evidently the fulfillment of this prophecy; for even to the present day David praises the Lord among the Gentiles by the mouth of true believers; seeing there is not a town, village, hamlet, country, nor even a desert, where Christians dwell, in which God is not praised by their singing the Psalms of David."

Great deliverance giveth he to his king - David was a king of God's appointment, and was peculiarly favored by him. Literally, He is magnifying the salvations of his king. He not only delivers, but follows up those deliverances with innumerable blessings.

Showeth mercy - to David - I have no claim upon his bounty. I deserve nothing from him, but he continues to show mercy.

To his seed - His posterity. So the words זרע zera and σπερμα, in the Old and New Testament, should be universally translated. The common translation is totally improper, and now more so than formerly, when anatomy was less understood.

For evermore - עד עולם ad olam, for ever; through all duration of created worlds. And more - the eternity that is beyond time. This shows that another David is meant, with another kind of posterity, and another sort of kingdom. From the family of David came the man Christ Jesus; his posterity are the genuine Christians; his kingdom, in which they are subjects, is spiritual. This government shall last through all time, for Christianity will continue to prevail till the end of the world: and it will be extended through eternity; for that is the kingdom of glory in which Jesus reigns on the throne of his Father, and in which his followers shall reign with him for ever and ever.

It has already been remarked that this whole Psalm has been understood as relating to the passion and victories of Christ, and the success of the Gospel in the earth. In this way Bishop Horne has understood and paraphrased it; and in the same way it is considered by the ancient Psalter, so often mentioned. Many of the primitive fathers and modern interpreters have taken the same view of it. Those passages which I judged to have this meaning I have pointed out, and have only to add that, as David was a type of Christ, many things spoken of him primarily, refer to our Lord ultimately; but much judgment and caution are required in their application. To apply the whole Psalm in this way appears to me very injudicious, and often derogatory from the majesty of Christ. Let this be my excuse for not following the same track in which many of my predecessors have gone.

Love - Most affectionately, and with my whole soul; as the Hebrew word signifies.

Rock - To which I flee for refuge, as the Israelites did to their rocks. Horn - It is a metaphor from those beasts whose strength lies in their horns.

Death - Dangerous and deadly troubles. Floods - Their multitude, and strength, and violent assaults, breaking in upon me like a flood.

Sorrows - Which brought me to the brink of the grave. Death - Had almost taken hold of me, before I was aware.

Temple - Out of his heavenly habitation.

Then - Then God appeared on my behalf in a glorious manner, to the terror and confusion of all mine enemies, which is here compared to an earthquake.

There went, &c. - All these seem to be figurative expressions, denoting the greatness of his anger.

Bowed - By producing thick and dark clouds, whereby the heavens seem to come down to the earth. Came - Not by change of place, but by the manifestation of his presence and power on my behalf.

Cherub - Or, upon the cherubim, upon the angels, who are also called God's chariots, Psal 68:17, upon which he is said to sit and ride. All which is not to be understood grossly, but only to denote God's using the ministry of angels, in raising such storms and tempests. Fly - As swiftly as the wind.

Darkness - He covered himself with dark clouds. Waters - Watery vapours.

At - His glorious and powerful appearance. Passed - Or, passed away, vanished, being dissolved into showers.

Arrows - Lightnings. Them - Mine enemies.

Discovered - By mighty earthquakes, which overturned the earth, and made its lower parts visible.

Prevented - They had almost surprized me.

Brought - Out of my straits and difficulties, into a state of freedom and comfort. So he ascribes all his mercies to God's good pleasure, as the first spring of them.

Righteousness - Just cause. The innocency of my actions towards Saul, from whose blood I kept my hands pure.

Judgments - I diligently studied and considered them.

Iniquity - From that sin which I was most inclined or tempted to.

Upright - Thou metest to every one the same measure, which he meteth out to others; and therefore thou wilt perform mercy and truth, to those who are merciful and true to others.

Pure - Free from the least mixture or appearance of unrighteousness, or unfaithfulness. Froward - Thou wilt cross him and walk contrary to him.

Lightest - Given me safety, and comfort, and glory, and posterity also.

Troop - Broken through the armed troops of mine enemies. Wall - I have scaled the walls of their strongest cites.

Perfect - His providence, though it may sometimes be dark, yet is always wise and just, and unblameable. Tried - The truth of God's promises is approved by innumerable experiences.

Who - Our Lord is the only God, and therefore there is none, that can hinder him from accomplishing his own work.

Perfect - Perfectly plain and smooth, and clear from impediments.

High - places - Confirms me in that high estate into which he hath advanced me.

Salvation - Thy protection, which hath been to me like a shield. Held - Kept me from, falling into those mischiefs, which mine enemies designed. Gentleness - Thy clemency, whereby thou hast pardoned my sins; thy grace and benignity.

Slipt - As they are apt to do in narrow and uneven ways.

People - From contentions, and seditions, under Saul, and Ishbosheth, and Absalom. Heathens - Of the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Syrians, and others. Not known - Even barbarous and remote nations.

Hear - As soon as they understand my will and pleasure, they shall instantly comply with it.

Close places - Out of their strong holds, where they shall lurk for fear of me.

The Lord - He and he only is the true living God.

Violent man - From Saul: whom for honour's sake he forbears to mention.

Heathen - David is here transported beyond himself, and speaks this in special relation to Christ who was to be his seed, and of whom he was an eminent type, and by whom alone this was done. And therefore this is justly applied to him, and to his calling of the Gentiles, Rom 15:9.

His king - To the king whom God himself chose and anointed, and to all his posterity; and especially to the Messiah, who is called David's seed, Acts 13:23 Rom 1:3.

1. I Will love thee e, O LORD my strength .

From whom alone I have received all my strength and success and settlement, and in whom alone I trust, as it follows v. 2.

c Most affectionately and with my whole Soul; as the Hebrew word signifies. I can return thee no better thing for all thy Favours than my Love and Heart, which I pray thee to accept. By loving him he understands not only his inward affection, but also all the outward Expressions and Testimonies of it, praising and glorifying, and serving of him.

Marginal references: Psal. 144. [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

2. The LORD is my rock and fortress, and my deliverer: my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

To which I flee for refuge, as the Israelites did to their Rocks. See Iudg. 6. 2. 1 Sam. 13. 6.

By which I have both defended my self and subdued mine Enemies. It is a Metaphor from those Beasts whose strength lyes in their Horns. The Horn is oft put for Power, as Psal. 92. 10. Amos 6. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. and elsewhere.

Marginal references: Heb. my Rock, Or Cli[illegible: 1+ letters].; Heb. 2. 13.

3. I will call upon the LORD who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Or, I did call—and was saved. For the Future Tense is commonly used for that which is Past. And this seems best to agree with the whole Context, which is to praise God for mercies already received.

4. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.

(i. e.) Dangerous and deadly Troubles. Or, the Bands or Cords of Death, which had almost seized me, and was putting it's Bands upon me. Compare Psal. 73. 4.

Their great multitudes and strength, and violent assaults, breaking in upon me like a Flood.

Marginal references: Psal. 116. 3; Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

5. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me .

Or, of the Grave, which brought me to the brink of the Grave.

Had almost taken hold of me, ere I was aware of my danger.

Marginal references: Or, Cords.

6. In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cryed unto my God, he heard my voice out of his temple , and my cry came before him, even unto his ears.

Either, 1. Out of his Sanctuary; whence he promised to hear and answer the Prayers of his People, which are either made there or directed thither. Or 2. Out of his heavenly Habitation, which is oft called his Temple; See on Psal. 11. 4.

Marginal references: Psal. 11. 4.

7. Then the earth shook and trembled , the foundation also of the hills were moved and shaken , because he was wroth.

Then God appeared on my behalf in a miraculous and glorious manner, and with the great Terror and Confusion of all mine Enemies, which is here compared to an Earthquake.

The Earthquake was so deep and violent, that it overthrew whole Mountains by the Roots. Whereby he designs his lofty and potent Enemies; such being oft compared to Mountains, as Psal. 46. 3, 4. and 144. 5. Isa. 41. 15. &c.

8. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils , and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it .

As is usual in Persons, Transported with great anger and rage. He manifested his great displeasure against my Adversaries.

Which notes the Fervency, Constancy, and Efficacy of his anger.

Marginal references: Heb. by his.; Heb. him.

9. He bowed the heavens also and came down . and darkness was under his feet.

By producing thick and dark Clouds, by which the Heavens seem to come down to the Earth.

Not by change of place, but by the Manifestation of his Presence, and Power on my behalf.

Marginal references: * Psal. 144. 5.

10. And he rode upon a cherub , and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind .

Or, upon the Cherubims, by an Enallage of number, that is, upon the Angels, who are so called, Gen. 3. 24. Heb. 9. 5. who are also called God's Chariots, Psal. 68. 17. upon which he is said to sit and ride. All which is not to be understood grossly, but only to note God's using of the Ministry of Angels, in raising such Storms and Tempests as are here described.

As swiftly as the Wind. He came to my rescue with all speed.

Marginal references: Psal. 104. 3.

11. He made darkness his secret place : his pavilion round about him, were dark waters , and thick clouds of the skies.

Or, his hiding Place, (i. e.) He covered himself with dark Clouds, from whence he secretly shot at his Enemies, as it follows.

(i. e.) Watry Vapours and thick Clouds, as the next Words expound these

12. At the brightness that was before him , his thick clouds passed , hail-stones and coals of fire.

At his glorious and powerful appearance.

Or, passed away, (i. e.) Vanished, (as this Word is oft taken, as Psal. 90. 5, 6. Isa. 29. 5. Hab. 3. 10.) being dissolved into showers of Hail-stones, &c.

13. The LORD also thundered b in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice : hailstones and coals of fire.

(i. e.) Thunder, oft so called. The same thing expressed in other Words.

q To wit, against my Adversaries. Thunder is a sign of God's Anger, 1 Sam. 2. 10. and 7. 10

14. Yea he sent out his arrows , and scattered them ; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

To wit, Lightnings, as it is explained in the next Clause.

To wit, mine Enemies: Which is sufficiently understood from v. 3. and 17. and from the whole Context.

15. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered : at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

By mighty and terrible Earthquakes which overturned the Earth, and made it's lower parts, uppermost and visible.

16. He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

Angels, or assistance otherwise.

Marginal references: Psal. 144. 7. & [illegible: 1+ letters]7. 3.; Or, great waters.

17. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me : for they were too strong for me.

From them that wanted neither Malice nor Power.

18. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

They were too cunning for me, and had almost surprized me, but they could not prevent thee.

19. He brought me forth also into a large place : he delivered me, because he delighted in me .

Out of my Straits and Difficulties, out of the little Caves in which I was shut up and imprisoned.

Into a state of Freedom and Plenty, and Comfort.

Or, loved me, or had a good will to me, as this Phrase commonly signifies. Whereby he ascribes all his Mercies and Blessings to God's good Pleasure and free Grace, as the first spring of them. Which he thought fit to Premise, lest the following Expressions should seem to savour of boasting of his own Merits, which he oft disclaims.

Marginal references: Psal. 118. 5.

20. The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness ; according to the clanness of my hands o hath he recompensed me.

As I had a just Cause, and made it my Care and Business to deal righteously with God and with Saul and all others, so God (who hath engaged himself by his Promise, to succour and reward them that are such) was graciously pleased to own me, and to plead my Cause against my unrighteous Enemies. And Because I would not deliver my self from my Straits and Miseries, by unrigteous means, namely, by killing Saul, as I was advised to do: God was pleased to deliver me in a more honourable and effectual manner.

n (i. e.) The innocency of my Actions, and carriage towards Saul, from whose Blood I kept my hands pure.

21. For I have kept the ways of the LORD , and have not wickedly departed from my God .

I have observed and obeyed his Precepts, and made mine own Will, and Passions and Interest stoop to them.

(i. e.) I have not knowingly and wilfully forsaken God, and broken his Laws as wicked men do. Which he adds by way of Correction and Explication, lest the former or following Clauses, should be interpreted as a Profession of such a perfect and Sinless righteousness, whereby he might in strict Justice be justified by, and before God; which he elsewhere utterly disowns, Psal. 130. 3. and 143. 2. and which David, especially towards the end of his days, (when this Psalm was Composed, as the Title shews) could not pretend to without great Arrogancy and Falshood, as having been guilty of those great Sins of Murder and Adu[illegible: 1+ letters]tery, and many other Errors, as he confesseth, Psal. 19. 12. and oft elsewhere:

22. For all his judgments were before me , and I did not * put away his statutes from me .

(i. e.) Before the Eyes of my Mind. I diligently studied and Considered them, that I might govern my whole Life by them.

(i. e.) Out of my view, as ungodly men do; who like not to retain God nor his Word in their Hearts, or Thoughts.

Marginal references: Psal. 10. [illegible: 1+ letters].

23. I was also upright before him : and I kept my self from mine iniquity .

I did not pretend Religion before men for my own Ends, but did approve my Heart and ways to the all-seeing God.

(i. e.) From that sin which I was most inclined, or tempted: Either, 1. From my. Hereditary and natural Corruption, so far that it should not have Dominion over me, nor break forth into any Presumptuous or Scandalous sins. Or rather, 2. From the sin of killing Saul, which might be called his sin, because this might seem most agreeable and desireable to him both as a Man and as a Souldier, and as anointed to be King, as being a likely way, both to revenge and to preserve and to advance himself; to which also he might seem to be both invited by the fair Opportunity which Providence had put into his Hand, 1 Sam. 24. 4. and 26. 8. and necessitated by Saul's implacable Malice, and his own perpetual and extream Dangers and Distresses; and to which he was so strongly tempted by his own followers, in the place now quoted.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] Job 11. 4.

25 With the merciful man thou wilt shew thy self merciful with an upright man thou wilt shew thy self upright .

Or, sincere, to wit, in performing what thou hast Promised to such Persons, this being a great part or act of Sincerity, when [illegible: 1+ letters]nes Deeds and Words, or Professio[illegible: 1+ letters]s agree together; as on the contrary for those that deal Hypocritically and wickedly with thee, thou wi[illegible: 1+ letters]st make them to know thy [illegible: 1 word] of Promise, as it is expressed, Numb. 14. 34. The Sence of the Verse, Thou me[illegible: 1+ letters]est to every one the same measure, which he meteth out to others, and givest to him the Fruit of his own doings, and therefore thou wilst perform mercy and truth, to those who are merciful and true to others, as through thy mercy I have been.

Marginal references: Or perfect.

26. With the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure , and with the froward thou wilst shew thy self froward .

Free from the least mixture or appearance of unrighteousness, or unfaithfulness, or unkindness, or simply and sincerely such as thou usest, and hast promised to be to them that are such: for Purity is oft put for Sincerity.

Or, perv[illegible: 1+ letters]rse, (i. e.) Thou wilst Cross him and Walk contrary to him, as thou hast threatned, Levit. 26. 23, 24. See also, Prov. 3. 34, Man's perversness here is moral and sinful, but God's perversness is judicial and penal.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 16. [illegible: 1+ letters]3, [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1 word], 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1 word].

27. For thou wilt save the afflicted people : but wilt bring down high looks .

Such as I and my poor followers were.

(i. e.) Proud Persons who discover the pride of their Hearts, by their haughty looks and Carriages, Psal. 101. 5. Prov. 6. 17. such as mine Enemies were.

28. For thou wilt light my candle : the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

Or, thou dost light, or hast lighted my Candle, (i. e.) given me Safety and Comfort, and Prosperity and Glory, and Posterity also; all which are oft signified by a Candle or a Light, as Esth. 8. 16. Iob 21. 17. and 29. 3. Psal. 97. 11. and 132. 17. &c.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

29. For by thee I have run through a troop : and by my God have I leaped over a wall .

(i. e.) Broken through the armed Troops of mine Enemies.

I have scaled the Walls of their strongest Cities and Castles, and so taken them.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

30. As for God his way is perfect : the word of the LORD is tryed : he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

His Counsel and Providence, though it may sometimes be dark and hard to be understood, yet is always wise and just, and every way perfect or unblameable.

The truth of God's promises is certain, and approved by innumerable Experiences, and mine among the rest.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 12. 4. [illegible: 1 word] 4. 37. [illegible: 1 word]. 15. 3.; [illegible: 1 word] 126. & [illegible: 1 word]. 140. Pro. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word].; [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

31. For who is God save the LORD ? or who is a Rock save our God!

It must needs be as I have said, because our Lord is the only God, and therefore there is none, neither God nor Creature, that can hinder him from accomplishing his own word and work, or from defending those that trust him: He is unchangeable and invincible. Or this is an Amplification, as God is, what I have now described him to be, so he only is such, and there is no other God, or Rock in which they may safely trust.

Marginal references: * Deut. 32 39. [illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ 2. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]6. 8. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1+ letters]5. 5.

32. It is God that girdeth me with strength , and maketh my way perfect .

That gives me strength both of Mind and Body for Battel. It is a Metaphor taken either from a Military Girdle, or from a Common Girdle, wherewith their loose Garments were girt about them, whereby they were rendred fitter for any Action.

(i. e.) Perfectly plain and smooth, and clear from Impediments, as Pioneers use to prepare the way for the March of an Army. He guideth me in all my Counsels and enterprizes, so that I neither miss my way, nor stumble in it, nor come short of my end.

33. He maketh my feet like hinds feet , and setteth me upon my high places.

(i. e.) Most swist and nimble. As he made me wise in Counsel and Contrivance, (which he elsewhere saith) so he made me speedy and Expeditious in the Execution: Which are the two great Excellencies of a Captain. He gave me great Agility either to f[illegible: 1+ letters]ee and escape from mine Enemies, when prudence required it, or to pursue them, when I saw occasion.

Heb. maketh me to stand, (i. e.) Either he placeth me in safe and strong places, out of the reach of mine Enemies[illegible: 1+ letters]: Or he confirms and establisheth me in that high and honourable estate into which he hath advanced me; and gives me [illegible: 1 word] to improve my Victories.

Marginal references: Deut. 32. 13. [illegible: 1+ letters] 33. 29.

34. * He teacheth my hands to war , so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms .

To him I owe all that Military skill, or Strength or Courage which I have.

My strength is sufficient not only to bend it, but to break it.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

35. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation : and thy right hand hath holden m[illegible: 1+ letters] up , and ‖ thy gentleness hath made me great.

Thy Safeguard and Protection, which hath been to me like a shield to defend me.

Kept me from falling into those Snare and Mischiefs, which mine Enemies designed and I seared.

Or, [illegible: 1 word], as this word signifies, [illegible: 1 word]. 12. 3. Psal. 10. 17. [illegible: 1 word] 45. 4. Zeph. 2, 3. (i. e.) Thy Clemency, whereby thou [illegible: 1 word] pardoned my sins, which might otherwise have undone me, and mitigated thy Corrections which I have deserved, thy Grace and Benignity, which thou hast freely shewed to me and for me.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

36. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me: that my feet did not slip .

Which before were straitned and confined to a little Compass, and intangled with the narrowness and difficulty of the way. Thou hast set my [illegible: 1+ letters]eet in a large Room, Psal. 31. 8. and 118. 5. (i. e.) Thou hast brought me out of all my straits and Difficulties, into a state of Freedom and Safety.

Or, stumble, as they are apt to do in narrow and uneven ways.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]

38. I have wounded them that they were not able to rise. they are fallen under my feet .

(i. e.) Cast down to the ground, so as I may tread upon their Necks after the manner of Conquerors, Deut. 33. 29. Ios. 10. 24.

39. For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battel: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

He repeats what he had said, v. 32. lest he should seem to arrogate to himself his great Atchievements and Victories mentioned, v. 37, 38. and that he might give God the whole Praise and Glory of them.

Marginal references: Heb. caused to bow.

40. Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies: that I might destroy them that hate me.

Either, 1. That I might smite or behead them. Or 2. That I might put my yoke upon their Necks, or bring them into Subjection. Or rather thus, Thou hast made them turn their Backs to me, (i. e.) Flee away from me: for so this very Phrase is used and rendred, Exod. 23. 27. Ios. 7, 8. 12. and elsewhere. So far are they mistaken, that say this Hebrew word Oreph is only used for the Neck and not for the Back.

That I might have Opportunity to destroy them.

41. They cryed, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD , but he answered them not.

He speaks of his Israelitish Enemies, who in their Distresses prayed to God for help against him.

Marginal references: Job. 27. 9. & 35. 12. Prov. 1. 28. Isa. 1. 15. Jer. 11. 11. & 14. 12. Ezek. 8. 18. M[illegible: 1+ letters]ch. 3. 4. Zech. 7. 13.

42. Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as dirt in the streets.

Or, Rid them away, as Dirt is usually swept or carried out of Houses or Streets. Or, tread them down; Or br[illegible: 1+ letters]se them, as men do Dirt when they walk in the Streets.

Marginal references: Zech. 10. 5.

43. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people : and thou hast made me the head of the heathen : a people whom I have not known shall serve me.

From Contentions, and Seditions, and Tumults of my own people under Saul, and Ihbosheth and Absalom.

Of the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Syrians and others.

Whom I had no acquaintance with, nor Relation to, no not by thy Promise or Grant; even barbarous and remote Nations.

44. Assoon as they hear of me , they shall obey me: † the strangers shall submit themselves unto me .

Either, 1. At the fame of my Name, and Victorious Arms. Or 2. At the first ridings of my coming towards them. Or rather, 3. As soon as they understand my Will and Pleasure, they shall instantly comply with it.

Heb. Shall [illegible: 1+ letters]ye unto me, (i. e.) Shall submit themselves to me not willingly and cheerfully, as they will pretend, but only out of fear, and by constraint. By which it appears that this is spoken with reference to David, and not (as some would have it) to Christ, because Christ's people are a willing People, Psal. 110. 3. and those whom he Conquess do freely obey him.

Marginal references: Heb. at the hearing of the ear.; Or, yield seigned obedience▪; Heb. he.; Heb. the Sons of the stranger.

45. The strangers shall fade away , and be afraid , out of their close places .

(i. e.) Shall wither and decay in their hopes and strength.

(i. e.) Shall come trembling: one Verb being put for two, as Psal. 22. 21. thou hast heard me, (i. e.) Having delivered me, and 42. 1. panteth, (i. e.) Panting hastneth, and in many other places.

Out of their strong holds, where they shall lurk and keep themselves for fear of me, and whence they dare not stir without trembling. Or, for (as the Particle Mem is oft used) their close places, (i. e.) Lest I should assault and take them.

46. The LORD liveth , and blessed be my rock : and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

He and he only is the true living God, as he hath manifested himself to be for my Comfort and for the Confusion of mine Enemies, when other Gods are dead and impotent Idols. Or, Let the Lord live. So it is a joyful and thankful Acclamation spoken after the manner of earthly Princes.

Let him have all blessing and praise, for he is worthy of it.

47. It is God that avengeth me ; and subdueth the people under me.

That executed Vengeance both by me, against Malicious Enemies, and for me against Saul, of whom I would not avenge my self.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. giveth ave[illegible: 1+ letters]gements for me▪; Or, destroyeth.

48. He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me : thou hast delivered me from the violent man .

Above their Malice and Power.

From Saul: whom for Honours sake he forbears to mention.

Marginal references: Psal. 59. 1.; Heb. man of violence.

49. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen : and sing praises unto thy name.

Or, among the Gentiles or Nations; (i. e.) Either, 1. In the great Congregations consisting of the Israelites of all Tribes; of whom this very word is used, Ios. 3. 17. and 4. 1. Ezek. 2. 3. and elsewhere, as hath been noted before, Or 2. In the Presence of those Gentiles, who resorted to Ierusalem in great numbers, or before others of them; who are either subject to me, or Consederate with me, as I have occasion of speaking or writing to any of them. But this was but an uncertain and inconsiderable Business. And therefore David is here transported beyond himself, even to his seed for ever, as it is expressed v. 50. and speaks this in special Relation to Christ, who was to be his seed, and of whom he was an Eminent Type, and by whom alone this was done, to any purpose. And therefore this is justly applied to him, and to his Preaching to and calling of the Gentiles, Rom. 15. 9.

Marginal references: Rom. 15. 9.; Or, confess.

50. Great deliverance giveth he to his king : and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

To the King whom God himself chose and anointed or constituted.

To all his Posterity, and especially to the Mess[illegible: 1+ letters]as, who is called David's seed, Act. 13. 23. Rom. 1. 3. and his So[illegible: 1+ letters], Psal. 89. 27. and 110. 1: Comp. with Mat. 22. 42. and the Seed by way of Eminency, Gal. 3. 16. and Gods anointed and King, Psal. 2. 2.

Marginal references: 2 Sam▪ 7. 13.

David’s Hymnic Retrospect of a Life Crowned with Many Mercies

Next to a תּפּלּה of David comes a שׁירה (nom. unitatis from שׁיר), which is in many ways both in words and thoughts (Symbolae p. 49) interwoven with the former. It is the longest of all the hymnic Psalms, and bears the inscription: To the Precentor, by the servant of Jahve, by David, who spake unto Jahve the words of this song in the day that Jahve had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saûl : then he said. The original inscription of the Psalm in the primary collection was probably only לדוד למנצח לעבד ה, like the inscription of Psa 36:1-12. The rest of the inscription resembles the language with which songs of this class are wont to be introduced in their connection in the historical narrative, Exo 15:1; Num 21:17, and more especially Deu 31:30. And the Psalm before us is found again in 2 Sam 22, introduced by words, the manifestly unaccidental agreement of which with the inscription in the Psalter, is explained by its having been incorporated in one of the histories from which the Books of Samuel are extracted, - probably the Annals (Dibre ha-Jamim) of David. From this source the writer of the Books of Samuel has taken the Psalm, together with that introduction; and from this source also springs the historical portion of the inscription in the Psalter, which is connected with the preceding by אשׁר.

David may have styled himself in the inscription עבד ה, just as the apostles call themselves δοῦλοι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. He also in other instances, in prayer, calls himself “the servant of Jahve,” Psa 19:12, Psa 19:14; Psa 144:10; 2Sa 7:20, as every Israelite might do; but David, who is the first after Moses and Joshua to bear this designation or by-name, could to so in an especial sense. For he, with whom the kingship of promise began, marks an epoch in his service of the work of God no less than did Moses, through whose mediation Israel received the Law, and Joshua, through whose instrumentality they obtained the Land of promise.

The terminology of psalm-poesy does not include the word שׁירה, but only שׁיר. This at once shows that the historical portion of the inscription comes from some other source. בּיום is followed, not by the infin. הצּיל: on the day of deliverance, but by the more exactly plusquamperf. הצּיל: on the day (בּיום = at the time, as in Gen 2:4, and frequently) when he had delivered - a genitival (Ges. §116, 3) relative clause, like Psa 138:3; Exo 6:28; Num 3:1, cf. Psa 56:10. מיּד alternates with מכּף in this text without any other design than that of varying the expression. The deliverance out of the hand of Saul is made specially prominent, because the most prominent portion of the Psalm, Psa 18:5, treats of it. The danger in which David the was placed, was of the most personal, the most perilous, and the most protracted kind. This prominence was of great service to the collector, because the preceding Psalm bears the features of this time, the lamentations over which are heard there and further back, and now all find expression in this more extended song of praise.

Only a fondness for doubt can lead any one to doubt the Davidic origin of this Psalm, attested as it is in two works, which are independent of one another. The twofold testimony of tradition is supported by the fact that the Psalm contains nothing that militates against David being the author; even the mention of his own name at the close, is not against it (cf. 1Ki 2:45). We have before us an Israelitish counterpart to the cuneiform monumental inscriptions, in which the kings of worldly monarchies recapitulate the deeds they have done by the help of their gods. The speaker is a king; the author of the Books of Samuel found the song already in existence as a Davidic song; the difference of his text from that which lies before us in the Psalter, shows that at that time it had been transmitted from some earlier period; writers of the later time of the kings here and there use language which is borrowed from it or are echoes of it (comp. Pro 30:5 with Psa 18:31; Hab 3:19 with Psa 18:34); it bears throughout the mark of the classic age of the language and poetry, and “if it be not David’s, it must have been written in his name and by some one imbued with his spirit, and who could have been this contemporary poet and twin-genius?” (Hitzig). All this irresistibly points us to David himself, to whom really belong also all the other songs in the Second Book of Samuel, which are introduced as Davidic (over Saul and Jonathan, over Abner, etc.). This, the greatest of all, springs entirely from the new self-consciousness to which he was raised by the promises recorded in 2 Sam 7; ; and towards the end, it closes with express retrospective reference to these promises; for David’s certainty of the everlasting duration of his house, and God’s covenant of mercy with his house, rests upon the announcement made by Nathan.

The Psalm divides into two halves; for the strain of praise begins anew with Psa 18:32, after having run its first course and come to a beautiful close in Psa 18:31. The two halves are also distinct in respect of their artificial form. The strophe schema of the first is: 6. 8. 8. 6. 8 (not 9). 8. 8. 8. 7. The mixture of six and eight line strophes is symmetrical, and the seven of the last strophe is nothing strange. The mixture in the second half on the contrary is varied. The art of the strophe system appears here, as is also seen in other instances in the Psalms, to be relaxed; and the striving after form at the commencement has given way to the pressure and crowding of the thoughts.

The traditional mode of writing out this Psalm, as also the Cantica, 2 Sam 22 and Judg 5, is “a half-brick upon a brick, and a brick upon a half-brick” (אירח על גבי לבנה ולבנה על גבי אריח): i.e., one line consisting of two, and one of three parts of a verse, and the line consisting of the three parts has only one word on the right and on the left; the whole consequently forms three columns. On the other hand, the song in Deut 32 (as also Jos 12:9., Est 9:7-10) is to be written “a half-brick upon a half-brick and a brick upon a brick,” i.e., in only two columns, cf. infra p. 269.

Psa 18:1-3 (Hebrew_Bible_18:2-4) The poet opens with a number of endearing names for God, in which he gratefully comprehends the results of long and varied experience. So far as regards the parallelism of the members, a monostich forms the beginning of this Psalm, as in Psa 16:1-11; Psa 23:1-6; Ps 25 and many others. Nevertheless the matter assumes a somewhat different aspect, if Psa 18:3 is not, with Maurer, Hengstenberg and Hupfeld, taken as two predicate clauses (Jahve is..., my God is...), but as a simple vocative-a rendering which alone corresponds to the intensity with which this greatest of the Davidic hymns opens-God being invoked by ה, ה, אלי, and each of these names being followed by a predicative expansion of itself, which increases in fulness of tone and emphasis. The ארחמך (with ā, according to Ew. §251, b), which carries the three series of the names of God, makes up in depth of meaning what is wanting in compass. Elsewhere we find only the Piel רחם of tender sympathising love, but here the Kal is used as an Aramaism. Hence the Jalkut on this passages explains it by רחמאי יתך “I love thee,” or ardent, heartfelt love and attachment. The primary signification of softness (root רח, Arab.rḥ , rch, to be soft, lax, loose), whence רחם, uterus, is transferred in both cases to tenderness of feeling or sentiment. The most general predicate חזפי (from חזק according to a similar inflexion to אמר, בּסר, עמק, plur. עמקי Pro 9:18) is followed by those which describe Jahve as a protector and deliverer in persecution on the one hand, and on the other as a defender and the giver of victory in battle. They are all typical names symbolising what Jahve is in Himself; hence instead of וּמפלּטי it would perhaps have been more correct to point וּמפלטי (and my refuge). God had already called Himself a shield to Abram, Gen 15:1; and He is called צוּר (cf. אבן Gen 49:24) in the great Mosaic song, Deu 32:4, Deu 32:37 (the latter verse is distinctly echoed here). סלע from סלע, Arab. sl‛ , findere, means properly a cleft in a rock (Arabic סלע,Neshwân defines thus: Arab. 'l - sal‛ is a cutting in a mountain after the manner of a gorge; and Jâkût, who cites a number of places that are so called: a wide plain (Arab. fḍ') enclosed by steep rocks, which is reached through a narrow pass (Arab. ša‛b), but can only be descended on foot. Accordingly, in סלעי the idea of a safe (and comfortable) hiding-place preponderates; in צוּרי that of firm ground and inaccessibility. The one figure calls to mind the (well-watered) Edomitish סלע surrounded with precipitous rocks, Isa 16:1; Isa 42:11, the Πέτρα described by Strabo, xvi. 4, 21; the other calls to mind the Phoenician rocky island צור, Ṣûr(Tyre), the refuge in the sea.) then a cleft rock, and צוּר, like the Arabic sachr, a great and hard mass of rock (Aramaic טוּר, a mountain). The figures of the מצוּדה (מצודה, מצד) and the משׂגּב are related; the former signifies properly specula, a watch-tower,In Arabic maṣâdun signifies (1) a high hill (a signification that is wanting in Freytag), (2) the summit of a mountain, and according to the original lexicons it belongs to the root Arab. maṣada, which in outward appearance is supported by the synonymous forms Arab. maṣadun and maṣdun, as also by their plurals Arab. amṣidatun and muṣdânun, wince these can only be properly formed from those singulars on the assumption of the m being part of the root. Nevertheless, since the meanings of Arab. maṣada all distinctly point to its being formed from the root Arab. mṣ contained in the reduplicated stem Arab. maṣṣa, to suck, but the meanings of Arab. maṣâdun , maṣsadun , and maṣdun do not admit of their being referred to it, and moreover there are instances in which original nn. loci from vv. med. Arab. w and y admit of the prefixed m being treated as the first radical through forgetfulness or disregard of their derivation, and with the retention of its from secondary roots (as Arab. makana , madana , maṣṣara), it is highly probable that in maṣâd , maṣad and maṣd we have an original מצד, מצודה, מצוּדה. These Hebrew words, however, are to be referred to a צוּד in the signification to look out, therefore properly specula. - Fleischer. and the latter, a steep height. The horn, which is an ancient figure of victorious and defiant power in Deu 33:17; 1Sa 2:1, is found here applied to Jahve Himself: “horn of my salvation” is that which interposes on the side of my feebleness, conquers, and saves me. All these epithets applied to God are the fruits of the affliction out of which David’s song has sprung, viz., his persecution by Saul, when, in a country abounding in rugged rocks and deficient in forest, he betook himself to the rocks for safety, and the mountains served him as his fortresses. In the shelter which the mountains, by their natural conformations, afforded him at that time, and in the fortunate accidents, which sometimes brought him deliverance when in extreme peril, David recognises only marvellous phenomena of which Jahve Himself was to him the final cause. The confession of the God tried and known in many ways is continued in Psa 18:5 by a general expression of his experience. מהלּל is a predicate accusative to יהוה: As one praised (worthy to be praised) do I call upon Jahve, - a rendering that is better suited to the following clause, which expresses confidence in the answer coinciding with the invocation, which is to be thought of as a cry for help, than Olshausen’s, “Worthy of praise, do I cry, is Jahve,” though this latter certainly is possible so far as the style is concerned (vid., on Isa 45:24, cf. also Gen 3:3; Mic 2:6). The proof of this fact, viz., that calling upon Him who is worthy to be praised, who, as the history of Israel shows, is able and willing to help, is immediately followed by actual help, as events that are coincident, forms the further matter of the Psalm.

Psa 18:4-6 (Hebrew_Bible_18:5-7) In these verses David gathers into one collective figure all the fearful dangers to which he had been exposed during his persecution by Saul, together with the marvellous answers and deliverances he experienced, that which is unseen, which stands in the relation to that which is visible of cause and effect, rendering itself visible to him. David here appears as passive throughout; the hand from out of the clouds seizes him and draws him out of mighty waters: while in the second part of the Psalm, in fellowship with God and under His blessing, he comes forward as a free actor.

The description begins in Psa 18:5 with the danger and the cry for help which is not in vain. The verb אפף according to a tradition not to be doubted (cf. אופן a wheel) signifies to go round, surround, as a poetical synonym of סבב, הקּיף, כּתּר, and not, as one might after the Arabic have thought: to drive, urge. Instead of “the bands of death,” the lxx (cf. Act 2:24) renders it ὠδῖνες (constrictive pains) θανάτου; but Psa 18:6 favours the meaning bands, cords, cf. Psa 119:61 (where it is likewise חבלי instead of the הבלי, which one might have expected, Jos 17:5; Job 36:8), death is therefore represented as a hunter with a cord and net, Psa 91:3. בליּעל, compounded of בּלי and יעל (from יעל, ועל, root על), signifies unprofitableness, worthlessness, and in fact both deep-rooted moral corruption and also abysmal destruction (cf. 2Co 6:15, Βελίαρ = Βελίαλ as a name of Satan and his kingdom). Rivers of destruction are those, whose engulfing floods lead down to the abyss of destruction (Jon 2:7). Death, Belı̂jáal, and Sheôl are the names of the weird powers, which make use of David’s persecutors as their instruments. Futt. in the sense of imperfects alternate with praett. בּעת (= Arab. bgt) signifies to come suddenly upon any one (but compare also Arab. b‛ṯ, to startle, excitare, to alarm), and קדּם, to rush upon; the two words are distinguished from one another like überfallen and anfallen. The היכל out of which Jahve hears is His heavenly dwelling-place, which is both palace and temple, inasmuch as He sits enthroned there, being worshipped by blessed spirits. לפניו belongs to ושׁועתי: my cry which is poured forth before Him (as e.g., in Psa 102:1), for it is tautological if joined with תּבא beside ושׁועתי. Before Jahve’s face he made supplication and his prayer urged its way into His ears.

Psa 18:7-9 (Hebrew_Bible_18:8-10) As these verses go on to describe, the being heard became manifest in the form of deliverance. All nature stands to man in a sympathetic relationship, sharing his curse and blessing, his destruction and glory, and to God is a (so to speak) synergetic relationship, furnishing the harbingers and instruments of His mighty deeds. Accordingly in this instance Jahve’s interposition on behalf of David is accompanied by terrible manifestations in nature. Like the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, Ps 68; Ps 77, and the giving of the Law on Sinai, Ex 19, and like the final appearing of Jahve and of Jesus Christ according to the words of prophet and apostle (Hab 3; 2Th 1:7.), the appearing of Jahve for the help of David has also extraordinary natural phenomena in its train. It is true we find no express record of any incident in David’s life of the kind recorded in 1Sa 7:10, but it must be come real experience which David here idealises (i.e., seizes at its very roots, and generalises and works up into a grand majestic picture of his miraculous deliverance). Amidst earthquake, a black thunderstorm gathers, the charging of which is heralded by the lightning’s flash, and its thick clouds descend nearer and nearer to the earth. The aorists in Psa 18:8 introduce the event, for the introduction of which, from Psa 18:4 onwards, the way has been prepared and towards which all is directed. The inward excitement of the Judge, who appears to His servant for his deliverance, sets the earth in violent oscillation. The foundations of the mountains (Isa 24:18) are that upon which they are supported beneath and within, as it were, the pillars which support the vast mass. געשׁ (rhyming with רעשׁ) is followed by the Hithpa. of the same verb: the first impulse having been given they, viz., the earth and the pillars of the mountains, continue to shake of themselves. These convulsions occur, because “it is kindled with respect to God;” it is unnecessary to supply אפּו, חרה לו is a synonym of חם לו. When God is wrath, according to Old Testament conception, the power of wrath which is present in Him is kindled and blazes up and breaks forth. The panting of rage may accordingly also be called the smoke of the fire of wrath (Psa 74:1; Psa 80:5). The smoking is as the breathing out of the fire, and the vehement hot breath which is inhaled and exhaled through the nose of one who is angry (cf. Job 41:12), is like smoke rising from the internal fire of anger. The fire of anger itself “devours out of the mouth,” i.e., flames forth out of the mouth, consuming whatever it lays hold of-in men in the form of angry words, with God in the fiery forces of nature, which are of a like kind with, and subservient to, His anger, and more especially in the lightning’s flash. It is the lightning chiefly, that is compared here to the blazing up of burning coals. The power of wrath in God, becoming manifest in action, breaks forth into a glow, and before it entirely discharges its fire, it gives warning of action like the lightning’s flash heralding the outburst of the storm. Thus enraged and breathing forth His wrath, Jahve bowed the heavens, i.e., caused them to bend towards the earth, and came down, and darkness of clouds (ערפל similar in meaning to ὄρφνη, cf. ἔρεβος) was under His feet: black, low-hanging clouds announced the coming of Him who in His wrath was already on His way downwards towards the earth.

Psa 18:10-12 (Hebrew_Bible_18:11-13) The storm, announcing the approaching outburst of the thunderstorm, was also the forerunner of the Avenger and Deliverer. If we compare Psa 18:11 with Psa 104:3, it is natural to regard כּרוּב as a transposition of רכוּב (a chariot, Ew. §153, a). But assuming a relationship between the biblical Cherub and (according to Ctesias) the Indo-Persian griffin, the word (from the Zend grab , garew , garefsh, to seize) signifies a creature seizing and holding irrecoverably fast whatever it seizes upon; perhaps in Semitic language the strong creature, from כּרב = Arab. krb , torquere, constringere, whence mukrab, tight, strong). It is a passive form like גּבוּל, יסד, לבוּשׁ. The cherubim are mentioned in Gen 3:24 as the guards of Paradise (this alone is enough to refute the interpretation recently revived in the Evang. Kirchen-Zeit., 1866, No. 46, that they are a symbol of the unity of the living One, כרוב = כּרוב “like a multitude!”), and elsewhere, as it were, as the living mighty rampart and vehicle of the approach of the inaccessible majesty of God; and they are not merely in general the medium of God’s personal presence in the world, but more especially of the present of God as turning the fiery side of His doxa towards the world. As in the Prometheus of Aeschylus, Oceanus comes flying τὸν πτερυγωκῆ τόνδ ̓ οἰωνόν γνώμῃ στομίων ἄτερ εὐθύνων, so in the present passage Jahve rides upon the cherub, of which the heathenish griffin is a distortion; or, if by a comparison of passages like Psa 104:3; Isa 66:15, we understand David according to Ezekiel, He rides upon the cherub as upon His living throne-chariot (מרכּבה). The throne floats upon the cherubim, and this cherub-throne flies upon the wings of the wind; or, as we can also say: the cherub is the celestial spirit working in this vehicle formed of the spirit-like elements. The Manager of the chariot is Himself hidden behind the thick thunder-clouds. ישׁת is an aorist without the consecutive ו (cf. יך Hos 6:1). חשׁך is the accusative of the object to it; and the accusative of the predicate is doubled: His covering, His pavilion round about Him. In Job 36:29 also the thunder-clouds are called God’s סכּה, and also in Psa 97:2 they are סביביו, concealing Him on all sides and announcing only His presence when He is wroth. In Psa 18:12 the accusative of the object, חשׁך, is expanded into “darkness of waters,” i.e., swelling with watersRab Dimi, B. Taanîth 10 a, for the elucidation of the passage quotes a Palestine proverb: נהור ענני זעירין מוהי חשׁוך ענני סגיין מוהי i.e., if the clouds are transparent they will yield but little water, if they are dark they will yield a quantity. and billows of thick vapour, thick, and therefore dark, masses (עב in its primary meaning of denseness, or a thicket, Exo 19:9, cf. Jer 4:29) of שׁחקים, which is here a poetical name for fleecy clouds. The dispersion and discharge, according to Psa 18:13, proceeded from נגהּ גגדּו. Such is the expression for the doxa of God as being a mirroring forth of His nature, as it were, over against Him, as being therefore His brightness, or the reflection of His glory. The doxa is fire and light. On this occasion the forces of wrath issue from it, and therefore it is the fiery forces: heavy and destructive hail (cf. Exo 9:23., Isa 30:30) and fiery glowing coals, i.e., flashing and kindling lightning. The object עביו stands first, because the idea of clouds, behind which, according to Psa 18:11, the doxa in concealed, is prominently connected with the doxa. It might be rendered: before His brightness His clouds turn into hail..., a rendering which would be more in accordance with the structure of the stichs, and is possible according to Ges. §138, rem. 2. Nevertheless, in connection with the combination of עבר with clouds, the idea of breaking through (Lam 3:44) is very natural. If עביו is removed, then עברו signifies “thence came forth hail...” But the mention of the clouds as the medium, is both natural and appropriate.

Psa 18:13-15 (Hebrew_Bible_18:14-16) Amidst thunder, Jahve hurled lightnings as arrows upon David’s enemies, and the breath of His anger laid bare the beds of the flood to the very centre of the earth, in order to rescue the sunken one. Thunder is the rumble of God, and as it were the hollow murmur of His mouth, Job 37:2. עליון, the Most High, is the name of God as the inapproachable Judge, who governs all things. The third line of Psa 18:14 is erroneously repeated from the preceding strophe. It cannot be supported on grammatical grounds by Exo 9:23, since קול נתן, edere vocem, has a different meaning from the נתן קלת, dare tonitrua, of that passage. The symmetry of the strophe structure is also against it; and it is wanting both in 2 Sam. and in the lxx. רב, which, as the opposite of מעט Neh 2:12; Isa 10:7, means adverbially “in abundance,” is the parallel to ויּשׁלח. It is generally taken, after the analogy of Gen 49:23, in the sense of בּרק, Psa 144:6 : רב in pause = רב (the ō passing over into the broader å like עז instead of עז in Gen 49:3) = רבב, cognate with רבה, רמה; but the forms סב, סבּוּ, here, and in every other instance, have but a very questionable existence, as e.g., רב, Isa 54:13, is more probably an adjective than the third person praet. (cf. Böttcher, Neue Aehrenlese No. 635, 1066). The suffixes ēm do not refer to the arrows, i.e., lightnings, but to David’s foes. המם means both to put in commotion and to destroy by confounding, Exo 14:24; Exo 23:27. In addition to the thunder, the voice of Jahve, comes the stormwind, which is the snorting of the breath of His nostrils. This makes the channels of the waters visible and lays bare the foundations of the earth. אפיק (collateral form to אפק) is the bed of the river and then the river or brook itself, a continendo aquas (Ges.), and exactly like the Arabic mesı̂k , mesâk , mesek(from Arab. msk, the VI form of which, tamâsaka, corresponds to התאפּק), means a place that does not admit of the water soaking in, but on account of the firmness of the soil preserves it standing or flowing. What are here meant are the water-courses or river beds that hold the water. It is only needful for Jahve to threaten (epitiman Mat 8:26) and the floods, in which he, whose rescue is undertaken here, is sunk, flee (Psa 104:7) and dry up (Psa 106:9, Nah 1:4). But he is already half engulfed in the abyss of Hades, hence not merely the bed of the flood is opened up, but the earth is rent to its very centre. From the language being here so thoroughly allegorical, it is clear that we were quite correct in interpreting the description as ideal. He, who is nearly overpowered by his foes, is represented as one engulfed in deep waters and almost drowning.

Psa 18:16-19 (Hebrew_Bible_18:17-20) Then Jahve stretches out His hand from above into the deep chasm and draws up the sinking one. The verb שׁלח occurs also in prose (2Sa 6:6) without יד (Psa 57:4, cf. on the other hand the borrowed passage, Psa 144:7) in the signification to reach (after anything). The verb משׁה, however, is only found in one other instance, viz., Exo 2:10, as the root (transferred from the Egyptian into the Hebrew) of the name of Moses, and even Luther saw in it an historical allusion, “He hath made a Moses of me,” He hath drawn me out of great (many) waters, which had well nigh swallowed me up, as He did Moses out of the waters of the Nile, in which he would have perished. This figurative language is followed, in Psa 18:18, by its interpretation, just as in Psa 144:7 the “great waters” are explained by מיּד בּני נכר, which, however, is not suitable here, or at least is too limited.

With Psa 18:17 the hymn has reached the climax of epic description, from which it now descends in a tone that becomes more and more lyrical. In the combination איבי עז, עז is not an adverbial accusative, but an adjective, like רוּחך טובה Psa 143:10, and ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός (Hebräerbrief S. 353). כּי introduces the reason for the interposition of the divine omnipotence, viz., the superior strength of the foe and the weakness of the oppressed one. On the day of his איד, i.e., (vid., on Psa 31:12) his load or calamity, when he was altogether a homeless and almost defenceless fugitive, they came upon him (קדּם Psa 17:13), cutting off all possible means of delivering himself, but Jahve became the fugitive’s staff (Psa 23:4) upon which he leaned and kept himself erect. By the hand of God, out of straits and difficulties he reached a broad place, out of the dungeon of oppression to freedom, for Jahve had delighted in him, he was His chosen and beloved one. חפץ has the accent on the penult here, and Metheg as a sign of the lengthening (העמדה) beside the ē, that it may not be read ĕ.In like manner Metheg is placed beside the ee of the final closed syllable that has lost the tone in חפץ Psa 22:9, ותּחולל Psa 90:2, vid., Isaiah S. 594 note.

The following strophe tells the reason of his pleasing God and of His not allowing him to perish. This כּי חפץ בּי (for He delighted in me) now becomes the primary thought of the song.

Psa 18:20-23 (Hebrew_Bible_18:21-24) On גּמל (like שׁלּם with the accusative not merely of the thing, but also of the person, e.g., 1Sa 24:18), εὐ or κακῶς πράττειν τινά, vid., on Psa 7:5. שׁמר, to observe = to keep, is used in the same way in Job 22:15. רשׁע מן is a pregnant expression of the malitiosa desertio. “From God’s side,” i.e., in His judgment, would be contrary to the general usage of the language (for the מן in Job 4:17 has a different meaning) and would be but a chilling addition. On the poetical form מנּי, in pause מנּי, vid., Ew. §263, b. The fut. in Psa 18:23, close after the substantival clause Psa 18:23, is not intended of the habit in the past, but at the present time: he has not wickedly forsaken God, but (כּי = imo, sed) always has God’s commandments present before him as his rule of conduct, and has not put them far away out of his sight, in order to be able to sin with less compunction; and thus then (fut. consec.) in relation (עם, as in Deu 18:13, cf. 2Sa 23:5) to God he was תמים, with his whole soul undividedly devoted to Him, and he guarded himself against his iniquity (עון, from עוה, Arab. 'wâ, to twist, pervert, cf. Arab. gwâ, of error, delusion, self-enlightenment), i.e., not: against acquiescence in his in-dwelling sin, but: against iniquity becoming in any way his own; מעוני equivalent to מעותי (Dan 9:5), cf. מחיּי = than that I should live, Jon 4:8. In this strophe, this Psalm strikes a cord that harmonises with Psa 17:1-15, after which it is therefore placed. We may compare David’s own testimony concerning himself in 1Sa 26:23., the testimony of God in 1Ki 14:8, and the testimony of history in 1Ki 15:5; 1Ki 11:4.

Psa 18:24-27 (Hebrew_Bible_18:25-28) What was said in Psa 18:21 is again expressed here as a result of the foregoing, and substantiated in Psa 18:26, Psa 18:27. חסיד is a friend of God and man, just as pius is used of behaviour to men as well as towards God. גּבר תמים the man (construct of גּבר) of moral and religious completeness (integri = integritatis, cf. Psa 15:2), i.e., of undivided devotion to God. נבר (instead of which we find בּר לבב elsewhere, Psa 24:4; Psa 73:1) not one who is purified, but, in accordance with the reflexive primary meaning of Niph., one who is purifying himself, ἁγνίζων ἑαυτόν, 1Jo 3:3. עקּשׁ (the opposite of ישׂר) one who is morally distorted, perverse. Freely formed Hithpaels are used with these attributive words to give expression to the corresponding self-manifestation: התחסּד, התּמּם (Ges. §54, 2, b), התבּרר, and התפּתּל (to show one’s self נפתּל or פּתלתּל). The fervent love of the godly man God requites with confiding love, the entire submission of the upright with a full measure of grace, the endeavour after purity by an unbeclouded charity (cf. Psa 73:1), moral perverseness by paradoxical judgments, giving the perverse over to his perverseness (Rom 1:28) and leading him by strange ways to final condemnation (Isa 29:14, cf. Lev 26:23.). The truth, which is here enunciated, is not that the conception which man forms of God is the reflected image of his own mind and heart, but that God’s conduct to man is the reflection of the relation in which man has placed himself to God; cf. 1Sa 2:30; 1Sa 15:23. This universal truth is illustrated and substantiated in Psa 18:28. The people who are bowed down by affliction experience God’s condescension, to their salvation; and their haughty oppressors, god’s exaltation, to their humiliation. Lofty, proud eyes are among the seven things that Jahve hateth, according to Pro 6:17. The judgment of God compels them to humble themselves with shame, Isa 2:11.

Psa 18:28-30 (Hebrew_Bible_18:29-31) The confirmation of what has been asserted is continued by David’s application of it to himself. Hitzig translates the futures in Psa 18:29. as imperfects; but the sequence of the tenses, which would bring this rendering with it, is in this instance interrupted, as it has been even in Psa 18:28, by כּי. The lamp, נר (contracted from nawer), is an image of life, which as it were burns on and on, including the idea of prosperity and high rank; in the form ניר (from niwr, nijr) it is the usual figurative word for the continuance of the house of David, 1Ki 11:36, and frequently. David’s life and dominion, as the covenant king, is the lamp which God’s favour has lighted for the well-being of Israel, and His power will not allow this lamp (2Sa 21:17) to be quenched. The darkness which breaks in upon David and his house is always lighted up again by Jahve. For His strength is mighty in the weak; in, with, and by Him he can do all things. The fut. ארץ may be all the more surely derived from רצץ (= ארץ), inasmuch as this verb has the changeable u in the future also in Isa 42:4; Ecc 12:6. The text of 2 Sam 22, however, certainly seems to put “rushing upon” in the stead of “breaking down.” With Psa 18:31 the first half of the hymn closes epiphonematically. האל is a nom. absol., like hatsuwr, Deu 32:4. This old Mosaic utterance is re-echoed here, as in 2Sa 7:22, in the mouth of David. The article of האל points to God as being manifest in past history. His way is faultless and blameless. His word is צרוּפה, not slaggy ore, but purified solid gold, Psa 12:7. Whoever retreats into Him, the God of the promise, is shielded from every danger. Pro 30:5 is borrowed from this passage.

Psa 18:31-34 (Hebrew_Bible_18:32-35) The grateful description of the tokens of favour he has experienced takes a new flight, and is continued in the second half of the Psalm in a more varied and less artificial mixture of the strophes. What is said in Psa 18:31 of the way and word of Jahve and of Jahve Himself, is confirmed in Psa 18:32 by the fact that He alone is אלוהּ, a divine being to be reverenced, and He alone is צוּר, a rock, i.e., a ground of confidence that cannot be shaken. What is said in Psa 18:31 consequently can be said only of Him. מבּלעדי and זוּלתי alternate; the former (with a negative intensive מן) signifies “without reference to” and then absolutely “without” or besides, and the latter (with ı̂ as a connecting vowel, which elsewhere has also the function of a suffix), from זוּלת (זוּלה), “exception.” The verses immediately following are attached descriptively to אלהינוּ, our God (i.e., the God of Israel), the God, who girded me with strength; and accordingly (fut. consec.) made my way תמים, “perfect,” i.e., absolutely smooth, free from stumblings and errors, leading straight forward to a divine goal. The idea is no other than that in Psa 18:31, cf. Job 22:3, except that the freedom from error here is intended to be understood in accordance with its reference to the way of a man, of a king, and of a warrior; cf. moreover, the other text. The verb שׁוּה signifies, like Arab. swwâ, to make equal (aequare), to arrange, to set right; the dependent passage Hab 3:19 has, instead of this verb, the more uncoloured שׁים. The hind, איּלה or איּלת, is the perfection of swiftness (cf. ἔλαφος and ἐλαφρός) and also of gracefulness among animals. “Like the hinds” is equivalent to like hinds’ feet; the Hebrew style leaves it to the reader to infer the appropriate point of comparison from the figure. It is not swiftness in flight (De Wette), but in attack and pursuit that is meant, - the latter being a prominent characteristic of warriors, according to 2Sa 1:23; 2Sa 2:18; 1Ch 12:8. David does not call the high places of the enemy, which he has made his own by conquest “my high places,” but those heights of the Holy Land which belong to him as king of Israel: upon these Jahve preserves him a firm position, so that from them he may rule the land far and wide, and hold them victoriously (cf. passages like Deu 32:13; Isa 58:14). The verb למּד, which has a double accusative in other instances, is here combined with ל of the subject taught, as the aim of the teaching. The verb נחת (to press down = to bend a bow) precedes the subject “my arms” in the singular; this inequality is admissible even when the subject stands first (e.g., Gen 49:22; Joe 1:20; Zec 6:14). קשׁת נחוּשׁה a bow of brazen = of brass, as in Job 20:24. It is also the manner of heroes in Homer and in the Ramâ-jana to press down and bend with their hand a brazen bow, one end of which rests on the ground.

Psa 18:35-36 (Hebrew_Bible_18:36-37) Yet it is not the brazen bow in itself that makes him victorious, but the helpful strength of his God. “Shield of Thy salvation” is that consisting of Thy salvation. מגן has an unchangeable å, as it has always. The salvation of Jahve covered him as a shield, from which every stroke of the foe rebounded; the right hand of Jahve supported him that his hands might not become feeble in the conflict. In its ultimate cause it is the divine ענוה, to which he must trace back his greatness, i.e., God’s lowliness, by virtue of which His eyes look down upon that which is on the earth (Psa 113:6), and the poor and contrite ones are His favourite dwelling-place (Isa 57:15; Isa 66:1.); cf. B. Megilla 31 a, “wherever Scripture testifies of the גבורה of the Holy One, blessed be He, it gives prominence also, in connection with it, to His condescension, ענותנוּתו, as in Deu 10:17 and in connection with it Deu 10:18, Isa 57:15 and Isa 57:15, Psa 68:5 and Psa 68:6.” The rendering of Luther, who follows the lxx and Vulgate, “When Thou humblest me, Thou makest me great” is opposed by the fact that ענוה means the bending of one’s self, and not of another. What is intended is, that condescension of God to mankind, and especially to the house of David, which was in operation, with an ultimate view to the incarnation, in the life of the son of Jesse from the time of his anointing to his death, viz., the divine χρηστότης καὶ φιλανθρωπία (Tit 3:4), which elected the shepherd boy to be king, and did not cast him off even when he fell into sin and his infirmities became manifest. To enlarge his steps under any one is equivalent to securing him room for freedom of motion (cf. the opposite form of expression in Pro 4:12). Jahve removed the obstacles of his course out of the way, and steeled his ankles so that he stood firm in fight and endured till he came off victorious. The praet. מעדו substantiates what, without any other indication of it, is required by the consecutio temporum, viz., that everything here has a retrospective meaning.

Psa 18:37-40 (Hebrew_Bible_18:38-41) Thus in God’s strength, with the armour of God, and by God’s assistance in fight, he smote, cast down, and utterly destroyed all his foes in foreign and in civil wars. According to the Hebrew syntax the whole of this passage is a retrospect. The imperfect signification of the futures in Psa 18:38, Psa 18:39 is made clear from the aorist which appears in Psa 18:40, and from the perfects and futures in what follows it. The strophe begins with an echo of Exo 15:9 (cf. supra Psa 7:6). The poet calls his opponents קמי, as in Psa 18:49, Psa 44:6; Psa 74:23, cf. קימנוּ Job 22:20, inasmuch as קוּם by itself has the sense of rising up in hostility and consequently one can say קמי instead of עלי קמים (קומים   2Ki 16:7).In the language of the Beduins kôm is war, feud, and kômānı̂ (denominative from kōm) my enemy (hostis); kōm also has the signification of a collective of kōmānı̂, and one can equally well say: entum waijânâ kôm, you and we are enemies, and: bênâtnâ kôm, there is war between us.

The frequent use of this phrase (e.g., Ps 36:13, Lam 1:14) shows that קום in Psa 18:39 does not mean “to stand (resist),” but “to rise (again).” The phrase נתן ערף, however, which in other passages has those fleeing as its subject (2Ch 29:6), is here differently applied: Thou gavest, or madest me mine enemies a back, i.e., those who turn back, as in Exo 23:27. From Psa 21:13 (תּשׁיתמו שׁכם, Symm. τάξεις αὐτοὺς ἀποστρόφους) it becomes clear that ערף is not an accusative of the member beside the accusative of the person (as e.g., in Deu 33:11), but an accusative of the factitive object according to Ges. §139, 2.

Psa 18:41-42 (Hebrew_Bible_18:42-43) Their prayer to their gods, wrung from them by their distress, and even to Jahve, was in vain, because it was for their cause, and too late put up to Him. על = על; in Psa 42:2 the two prepositions are interchanged. Since we do not pulverize dust but to dust, כּעפר is to be taken as describing the result: so that they became as dust (cf. Job 38:30, כּאכן, so that it is become like stone, and the extreme of such pregnant brevity of expression in Isa 41:2) before the wind (על־פּני as in 2Ch 3:17, before the front). The second figure is to be explained differently: I emptied them out (אריקם from הריק) like the dirt of the streets, i.e., not merely: so that they became such, but as one empties it out, - thus contemptuously, ignominiously and completely (cf. Isa 10:6; Zec 10:5). The lxx renders it λεανῶ from הרק (root רק to stretch, make thin, cf. tendo tenius, dehnen dünn); and the text of 2 Sam 22 present the same idea in אדיקם.

Psa 18:43-45 (Hebrew_Bible_18:44-46) Thus victorious in God, David became what he now is, viz., the ruler of a great kingdom firmly established both in home and foreign relations. With respect to the גּוים and the verb תּפלּטני which follows, ריבי עם can only be understood of the conflicts among his own people, in which David was involved by the persecution of Saul and the rebellions of Absolom and Sheba the son of Bichri; and from which Jahve delivered him, in order to preserve him for his calling of world-wide dominion in accordance with the promise. We therefore interpret the passage according to בּרית עם in Isa 49:8, and קנאת־עם in Isa 26:11; whereas the following עם comes to have a foreign application by reason of the attributive clause לא־ידעתּי (Ges. §123, 3). The Niph. נשׁמע in Psa 18:45 is the reflexive of שׁמע, to obey (e.g., Exo 24:7), and is therefore to be rendered: show themselves obedient (= Ithpa. in Dan 7:27). לשׁמע אזן implies more than that they obeyed at the word; שׁמע means information, rumour, and שׁמע אזן is the opposite of personal observation (Job 42:5), it is therefore to be rendered: they submitted even at the tidings of my victories; and 2Sa 8:9. is an example of this. כּחשׁ to lie, disown, feign, and flatter, is sued here, as it is frequently, of the extorted humility which the vanquished show towards the conqueror. Psa 18:46 completes the picture of the reason of the sons of a foreign country “putting a good face on a bad game.” They faded away, i.e., they became weak and faint-hearted (Exo 18:18), incapable of holding out against or breaking through any siege by David, and trembled, surrendering at discretion, out of their close places, i.e., out of their strongholds behind which they had shut themselves in (cf. Ps 142:8). The signification of being alarmed, which in this instance, being found in combination with a local מן, is confined to the sense of terrified flight, is secured to the verb חרג by the Arabic ḥarija (root ḥr, of audible pressure, crowding, and the like) to be pressed, crowded, tight, or narrow, to get in a strait, and the Targumic חרנּא דמותא = אימתא דמותא (vid., the Targums on Deu 32:25). Arab. ḥjl, to limp, halt, which is compared by Hitzig, is far removed as to the sound; and the most natural, but colourless Arab. chrj, to go out of (according to its radical meaning - cf. Arab. chrq , chr‛, etc. - : to break forth, erumpere), cannot be supported in Hebrew or Aramaic. The ירגּזוּ found in the borrowed passage in Micah, Mic 7:17, favours our rendering.

Psa 18:46-48 (Hebrew_Bible_18:47-49) The hymn now draws towards the end with praise and thanksgiving for the multitude of God’s mighty deeds, which have just been displayed. Like the (צוּרי) בּרוּך which is always doxological, חי ה (vivus Jahve) is meant as a predicate clause, but is read with the accent of an exclamation just as in the formula of an oath, which is the same expression; and in the present instance it has a doxological meaning. Accordingly וירוּם also signifies “exalted be,” in which sense it is written וירם (וירם = וירם) in the other text. There are three doxological utterances drawn from the events which have just been celebrated in song. That which follows, from האל onwards, describes Jahve once more as the living, blessed (εὐλογητόν), and exalted One, which He has shown Himself to be. From ויּדבּר we see that הנּותן is to be resolved as an imperfect. The proofs of vengeance, נקמות, are called God’s gift, insofar as He has rendered it possible to him to punish the attacks upon his own dignity and the dignity of his people, or to witness the punishment of such insults (e.g., in the case of Nabal); for divine vengeance is a securing by punishment (vindicatio) of the inviolability of the right. It is questionable whether הדבּיר (synonym רדד, Psa 144:2) here and in Psa 47:4 means “to bring to reason” as an intensive of דּבר, to drive (Ges.); the more natural meaning is “to turn the back” according to the Arabic adbara (Hitzig), cf. dabar , dabre, flight, retreat; debira to be wounded behind; medbûr, wounded in the back. The idea from which הדביר gains the meaning “to subdue” is that of flight, in which hostile nations, overtaken from behind, sank down under him (Psa 45:6); but the idea that is fully worked out in Psa 129:3, Isa 51:23, is by no means remote. With מפלטי the assertion takes the form of an address. מן רומם does not differ from Psa 9:14 : Thou liftest me up away from mine enemies, so that I hover above them and triumph over them. The climactic אף, of which poetry is fond, here unites two thoughts of a like import to give intensity of expression to the one idea. The participle is followed by futures: his manifold experience is concentrated in one general ideal expression.

Psa 18:49-50 (Hebrew_Bible_18:50-51) The praise of so blessed a God, who acts towards David as He has promised him, shall not be confined within the narrow limits of Israel. When God’s anointed makes war with the sword upon the heathen, it is, in the end, the blessing of the knowledge of Jahve for which he opens up the way, and the salvation of Jahve, which he thus mediatorially helps on. Paul has a perfect right to quote Psa 18:50 of this Psalm (Rom 15:9), together with Deu 32:43 and Psa 117:1, as proof that salvation belongs to the Gentiles also, according to the divine purpose of mercy. What is said in Psa 18:50 as the reason and matter of the praise that shall go forth beyond Israel, is an echo of the Messianic promises in 2Sa 7:12-16 which is perfectly reconcileable with the Davidic authorship of the Psalm, as Hitzig acknowledges. And Theodoret does not wrongly appeal to the closing words עד־עולם against the Jews. In whom, but in Christ, the son of David, has the fallen throne of David any lasting continuance, and in whom, but in Christ, has all that has been promised to the seed of David eternal truth and reality? The praise of Jahve, the God of David, His anointed, is, according to its ultimate import, a praising of the Father of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 18 according to the Text of 2 Samuel 22

2Sa 22:1

On the differences of the introductory superscription, see on Psa 18:1. The relation of the prose accentuation of the Psalm in 2 Sam 22 to the poetical accentuation in the Psalter is instructive. Thus, for example, instead of Mercha mahpach. (Olewejored) in the Psalter we here find Athnach; instead of the Athnach following upon Mercha mahpach., here is Zakeph (cf. Psa 18:7, Psa 18:16, Psa 18:31 with 2Sa 22:7, 2Sa 22:16, 2Sa 22:31); instead of Rebia mugrash, here Tiphcha (cf. Psa 18:4 with 2Sa 22:4); instead of Pazer at the beginning of a verse, here Athnach (cf. Psa 18:2 with 2Sa 22:2).Vid., Baer’s Accentsystem xv., and Thorath Emeth iii. 2 together with S. 44, Anm.

The peculiar mode of writing the stichs, in which we find this song in our editions, is the old traditional mode. If a half-line is placed above a half-line, so that they form two columns, it is called לבנה על־גבי לבנה אריח על־גבי אריח, brick upon brick, a half-brick upon a half-brick, as the song Haazinu in Deut 32 is set out in our editions. On the other hand if the half-lines appear as they do here divided and placed in layers one over another, it is called אריח על־גבי לבנה ולבנה על־גבי אריח. According to Megilla 16 b all the cantica in the Scriptures are to be written thus; and according to Sofrim xiii., Ps 18 has this form in common with 2 Sam 22.

2Sa 22:2-4

This strophe is stunted by the falling away of its monostichic introit, Psa 18:2. In consequence of this, the vocatives in Psa 18:2. are deprived of their support and lowered to substantival clauses: Jahve is my Rock, etc., which form no proper beginning for a hymn. Instead of וּמפלּטי we have, as in Psa 144:2, ומפלטי־לי; and instead of אלי צוּרי we find אלהי צוּרי, which is contrary to the usual manner of arranging these emblematical names. The loss the strophe sustains is compensated by the addition: and my Refuge, my Saviour, who savest me from violence. In 2Sa 22:4 as in 2Sa 22:49 the non-assimilated מן (cf. 2Sa 22:14, Psa 30:4; Psa 73:19) is shortened into an assimilated one. May לּי perhaps be the remains of the obliterated אלי, and אלהי, as it were, the clothing of the צוּרי which was then left too bare?

2Sa 22:5-7

The connection of this strophe with the preceding by כּי accords with the sense, but is tame. On the other hand, the reading משׁבּרי instead of חבלי (even though the author of Psa 116:3 may have thus read it) is commended by the parallelism, and by the fact, that now the latter figure is not repeated in 2Sa 22:5, 2Sa 22:6. משׁברי are not necessarily waves that break upon the shore, but may also be such as break one upon another, and consequently אפפוּני is not inadmissible. The ו of ונחלי, which is not wanted, is omitted. Instead of the fuller toned from סבבוּני, which is also more commensurate with the closing cadence of the verse, we have here the usual syncopated סבּוּני (cf. Psa 118:11). The repetition of the אקרא (instead of אשׁוּע) is even more unpoetical than the repetition of חבלי would be. On the other hand, it might originally have been ויּשׁמע instead of ישׁמע; without ו it is an expression (intended retrospectively) of what takes place simultaneously, with ו it expresses the principal fact. The concluding line ושׁועתי בּאזניו is stunted: the brief substantival clause is not meaningless (cf. Job 15:21; Isa 5:9), but is only a fragment of the more copious, fuller toned conclusion of the strophe which we find in the Psalter.

2Sa 22:8-10

The Kerî here obliterates the significant alternation of the Kal and Hithpa. of גּעשׁ. Instead of וּמוסדי we have the feminine form of the plural מוסדות (as in both texts in 2Sa 22:16) without ו. Instead of the genitive הרים, by an extension of the figure, we have השׁמים (cf. the pillars, Job 26:11), which is not intended of the mountains as of Atlasses, as it were, supporting the heavens, but of the points of support and central points of the heavens themselves: the whole universe trembles.

2Sa 22:11-13

Instead of the pictorial ויּדא (Deu 28:49, and hence in Jeremiah), which is generally used of the flight of the eagle, we have the plain, uncoloured ויּרא He appeared. Instead of ישׁת, which is intended as an aorist, we meet the more strictly regular, but here, where so many aorists with ו come together, less poetical ויּשׁת. In 2Sa 22:12 the rise and fall of the parallel members has grown over till it forms one heavy clumsy line: And made darkness round about Him a pavilion (סכּות). But the ἁπ. λεγ. חשׁרת, to which the signification of a “massive gathering together” is secured by the Arabic, is perhaps original. The word Arab. ḥšr, frequently used in the Koran of assembling to judgment, with the radical signification stipare, cogere (to crowd together, compress) which is also present in Arab. ḥšâ , ḥâš , ḥšd, is here used like ἀγείρειν in the Homeric νεφεληγρέτα (the cloud-gatherer).Midrash and Talmud explain it according to the Aramaic “a straining of the clouds,” inasmuch as the clouds, like a sieve, let the drops trickle down to the earth, falling close upon each other and yet separately (B . Taanîth 9 b: מחשרות מים על־גבי קרקע). Kimchi combines חשׁר with קשׁר. But the ancient Arabic ḥšr is the right key to the word. The root of חשׁך and חשׁכּה is perhaps the same (cf. Exo 10:21).

2Sa 22:13 is terribly mutilated. Of עביו עררו ברד ו of the other text there are only the four letters בּערוּ (as in 2Sa 22:9) left.

2Sa 22:14-16

Instead of ויּרעם we find ירעם, which is less admissible here, where a principal fact is related and the description is drawing nearer and nearer to its goal. Instead of מן־שׁמים the other text has בּשּׁמים; in Psa 30:4 also, מן is retained without being assimilated before שׁ. But the fact, however, that the line בּרד וגחלי־אשׁ is wanting, is a proof, which we welcome, that it is accidentally repeated from the preceding strophe, in the other text. On the other hand, חצּים is inferior to חצּיו; וּברקים רב is corrupted into a tame בּרק; and the Kerî ויּהם erroneously assumes that the suffix of ויפיצם refers to the arrows, i.e., lightnings. Again on the other hand, אפיקי ים, channels of the sea, is perhaps original; מים in this connection expresses too little, and, as being the customary word in combination with אפיקי (Psa 42:2; Joe 1:20), may easily have been substituted after it. At any rate ים and תּבל form a more exact antithesis. יגּלוּ instead of ויּגּלוּ is the same in meaning. The close of the strophe is here also weakened by the obliteration of the address to God: by (בּ instead of the מ of the other text) the threatening of Jahve, at the snorting of His breath of anger. The change of the preposition in this surge (so-to-speak) of the members of the verse is rather interruptive than pleasing.

2Sa 22:17-20

The variant משּׂנאי instead of ומשׂאני is unimportant; but משׁען instead of למשׁען, for a support, is less pleasing both as it regards language and rhythm. The resolution of ויוציאני into אתי...ויּצא is a clumsy and needless emphasising of the me.

2Sa 22:21-24

Instead of כּצדקי, we find כּצדקתי here and in 2Sa 22:25, contrary to usage of the language of the Psalms (cf. Psa 7:9 with 1Ki 8:32). Instead of the poetical אסיר מנּי (Job 27:5; Job 23:12) we have אסוּר ממּנּה (with the fem. used as a neuter), according to the common phrase in 2Ki 3:3, and frequently (cf. Deu 5:32). Instead of ואהי, the not less (e.g., Psa 102:8) usual ואהיה; and instead of ואשׁתּמּר, the form with ah of direction which occurs very frequently with the first person of the fut. convers. in the later Hebrew, although it does also occur even in the older Hebrew (Psa 3:6; Psa 7:5, Gen 32:6; Job 19:20). And instead of עמּו we find לו, which does not commend itself, either as a point of language or of rhythm; and by comparison with 2Sa 22:26, 2Sa 22:27, it certainly is not original.

2Sa 22:25-28

On כּצדקתי see 2Sa 22:21. כּברי is without example, since elsewhere (כּפּים) בּר ידים is the only expression for innocence. In the equally remarkable expression גּבּור תּמים (the upright “man of valour”), גבור is used just as in the expression גּבּור חיל. The form תּתּבר, has only the sound of an assimilated Hithpa. like תּתּמּם (= תתתמם), and is rather a reflexive of the Hiph. הבר after the manner of the Aramaic Ittaphal (therefore = תּתּכרר); and the form תּתּפּל sounds altogether like a Hithpa. from תּפל (thou showest thyself insipid, absurd, foolish), but - since תּפלה cannot be ascribed to God (Job 1:22), and is even unseemly as an expression - appears to be treated likewise as an Ittaphal with a kind of inverted assimilation = תּתהפתּל (Böttcher). They are contractions such as are sometimes allowed by the dialect of the common people, though contrary to all rules. ואת instead of כּי at the beginning of 2Sa 22:28 changes what is confirmatory into a mere continuation of the foregoing. One of the most sensible variations is the change of ועינים רמות to ועיניך על־רמים. The rendering: And Thine eyes (are directed down) upon the haughty that Thou mayst bring (them) low (Stier, Hengst., and others), violates the accentuation and is harsh so far as the language is concerned (תּשׁפּיל for להשׁפּלם). Hitzig renders it, according to the accents: And Thou lowerest Thine eyes against the proud, השׁפיל עימים = הפיל פנים (Jer 3:12). But one would expect בּ instead of על, if this were the meaning. It is better to render it according to Psa 113:6 : And Thou dost cast down Thine eyes upon the haughty, in which rendering the haughty are represented as being far beneath Jahve notwithstanding their haughtiness, and the “casting down or depressing of the eyes” is an expression of the utmost contempt (despectus).

2Sa 22:29-31

Here in 2Sa 22:29 תּאיר has been lost, for Jahve is called, and really is, אור in Psa 27:1, but not נר. The form of writing גיר is an incorrect wavering between נר and ניר. The repetition יהוה ויהוה, by which the loss of תאיר, and of אלהי in 2Sa 22:29, is covered, is inelegant. We have בּכה here instead of בּך, as twice besides in the Old Testament. The form of writing ארוּץ, as Isa 42:4 shows, does not absolutely require that we should derive it from רוּץ; nevertheless רוּץ can be joined with the accusative just as well as דּלּג, in the sense of running against, rushing upon; therefore, since the parallelism is favourable, it is to be rendered: by Thee I rush upon a troop. The omission of the ו before בּאלהי is no improvement to the rhythm.

2Sa 22:32-35

The variety of expression in 2Sa 22:32 which has been preserved in the other text is lost here. Instead of המאזרני חיל we find, as if from a faded MS, חיל מעוּזי (according to Norzi מעוּזי) my refuge (lit., hiding) of strength, i.e., my strong refuge, according to a syntactically more elegant style of expression (= מעוזי מעוז חיל), like Psa 71:7; Lev 6:3; Lev 26:42; vid., Nägelsbach §63, g, where it is correctly shown, that this mode of expression is a matter of necessity in certain instances.In the present instance מעוז חילי, like מחסה עזּי in Psa 71:7 (cf. Eze 16:27; Eze 18:7, and perhaps Hab 3:8) would not be inadmissible, although in the other mode of expression greater prominence is given to the fact of its being provided and granted by God. But in cases like the following it would be absolutely inadmissible to append the suffix to the nom. rectum, viz., שׂואי שׁקר, Psa 38:20; בּריתי יעקב my covenant with Jacob, Lev 26:42; מדּו בד his garment of linen, Lev 6:3; כּתבם המּתיחשׂים their ancestral register, Ezr 2:62; and it is probable that this transference of the pronominal suffix to the nom. regens originated in instances like these, where it was a logical necessary and then became transferred to the syntax ornata. At the same time it is clear from this, that in cases like שׂנאי שׁקר, and consequently also שׂנאי חנּם, the second notion is not conceived as an accusative of more precise definition, but as a governed genitive.

The form of writing, מעוּזי, seems here to recognise a מעוז, a hiding-place, refuge, = Arab. m‛âd, which is different from מעז a fortress (from עזז); but just as in every other case the punctuation confuses the two substantives (vid., on Psa 31:3), so it does even here, since מעוז, from עוּז, ought to be inflected מעוּזי, like מנוּסי, and not מעוּזי. Nevertheless the plena scriptio may avail to indicate to us, that here מעוז is intended to by a synonym of מחסה. Instead of (תמים דרכי) ויּתּן we have ויּתּר here; perhaps it is He let, or caused, my way to be spotless, i.e., made it such. Thus Ewald renders it by referring to the modern Arabic hllâ, to let, cause Germ. lassen, French faire = to make, effect; even the classic ancient Arabic language uses trk (Lassen) in the sense of j'l (to make), e.g., “I have made (Arab. taraktu) the sword my camp-companion,” i.e., my inseparable attendant (lit., I have caused it to be such), as it is to be translated in Nöldeck'e Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber, S. 131.Ibid. S. 133, Z. 13 is, with Fleischer, to be rendered: ye have made (Arab. trktm) my milk camels restless, i.e., caused them to be such, by having stolen them and driven them away so that they now yearn after home and their young ones.

Or does התּיר retain its full and proper meaning “to unfetter?” This is more probable, since the usage of Hebrew shows no example of התּיר in the post-biblical signification “to allow, permit,” which ought to form the transition to “to cause to be = to effect.” Therefore we may compare on the contrary Koran ix. 15, challu sebı̂ - lahum loose their way, i.e., let them go forth free, and render it: He unfettered, unbound, left to itself, let my way go on as faultless (unobstructed). Hitzig, following the Chethîb דרכו, renders it differently: “and made the upright skip on his way.” But תמים beside דרכו is to be regarded at the outset as its predicate, and התּיר means “to cause to jump up,” Hab 3:6, not “to skip along.” Nevertheless, the Chethîb דרכו, which, from the following Chethîb רגליו, bears the appearance of being designed, at any rate seems to have understood תמים personally: He unfettered (expedit) the upright his way, making his feet like etc. The reading ונחת instead of ונחתה, although admissible so far as the syntax is concerned (Ges. §147, a), injures the flow of the rhythm.

2Sa 22:36-37

The pentastich is stunted here by the falling away of the middle line of 2Sa 22:36 : and Thy right hand supported me. Instead of the expressive וענותך (and Thy condescension) we find here וענתך which, in accordance with the usage of the language, does not mean Thy being low (Hengst.), but rather: Thy labour (Böttch.), or more securely: Thine answering, lxx ὑπακοή (i.e., the actual help, wherewith Thou didst answer my prayer). Instead of תּחתּי we find, as also in 2Sa 22:40, 2Sa 22:48, תּחתּני with a verbal suffix, like בּעד in Psa 139:11; it is perhaps an inaccuracy of the common dialect, which confused the genitive and accusative suffix. But instances of this are not wanting even in the written language, Ges. §103, rem. 3.

2Sa 22:38-41

The cohortative תּרדּפת, as frequently, has the sense of a hypothetical antecedent, whether it refers to the present, as in Psa 139:8, or to the past as in Psa 73:16 and here: in case I pursued. In the text in the Psalter it is ואשּׂיגם, here it is ואשׁמידם, by which the echo of Ex 15 is obliterated. And after עד־כלותם how tautological is the ואכלּם which is designed to compensate for the shortening of the verse! The verse, to wit, is shortened at the end, ולא־יכלו קום being transformed into ולא יקוּמוּן. Instead of יפּלוּ, ויפּלוּ is not inappropriate. Instead of ותּאזּרני we find ותּזרני, by a syncope that belongs to the dialect of the people, cf. תּזלי for תּאזלי Jer 2:36, מלּף for מאלּף Job 35:11. Of the same kind is תּתּה = נתתּה, an apocope taken from the mouths of the people, with which only רד, Jdg 19:11, if equivalent to ירד, can be compared. The conjunctive ו of ומשׂנאי stands here in connection with אצמיתם as a consec.: my haters, whom I destroyed. The other text is altogether more natural, better conceived, and more elegant in this instance.

2Sa 22:42-43

Instead of ישׁוּעוּ we have ישׁעוּ, a substitution which is just tolerable: they look forth for help, or even: they look up expectantly to their gods, Isa 17:8; Isa 31:1. The two figurative expressions in 2Sa 22:43, however, appear here, in contrast with the other text, in a distorted form: And I pulverised them as the dust of the earth, as the mire of the street did I crush them, I trampled them down. The lively and expressive figure כעפר על־פני רוח is weakened into כעפר־ארץ. Instead of אריקם, we have the overloaded glossarial אדקּם ארקעם. The former (root דק, דך, to break in pieces) is a word that is interchanged with the אריקם of the other text in the misapprehended sense of ארקּם. The latter (root רק, to stretch, to make broad, thin, and compact) looks like a gloss of this אדקם. Since one does not intentionally either crush or trample upon the dirt of the street nor tread it out thin or broad, we must in this instance take not merely כעפר־ארץ but also כטיט־חוצות as expressing the issue or result.

2Sa 22:44-46

The various reading ריבי עמּי proceeds from the correct understanding, that ריבי refers to David’s contentions within his kingdom. The supposition that עמּי is a plur. apoc. and equivalent to עמּים, as it is to all appearance in Psa 144:2, and like מנּי = מנּים Psa 45:9, has no ground here. The reasonable variation תּשׁמרני harmonises with עמּי: Thou hast kept me (preserved me) for a head of the nations, viz., by not allowing David to become deprived of the throne by civil foes. The two lines of 2Sa 22:45 are reversed, and not without advantage. The Hithpa. יתכּחשׁוּ instead of the Piel יכחשׁוּ (cf. Psa 66:3; Psa 81:16) is the reflexive of the latter: they made themselves flatterers (cf. the Niph. Deu 33:29 : to show themselves flattering, like the ישּׁמעוּ which follows here, audientes se praestabant = obediebant). Instead of (אזן) לשׁמע we have here, in a similar signification, but less elegant, (אזן) לשׁמוע according to the hearing of the ear, i.e., hearsay. Instead of ויחרגוּ we find ויחגּרוּ, which is either a transposition of the letters as a solecism (cf. פּרץ   2Sa 13:27 for פּצר), or used in a peculiar signification. “They gird (accincti prodeunt)” does not give any suitable meaning to this picture of voluntary submission. But חגר (whence Talmudic חגּר lame) may have signified “to limp” in the dialect of the people, which may be understood of those who drag themselves along with difficulty and reluctance (Hitz.). “Out of their closed placed (castles),” here with the suff. ām instead of êhém.

2Sa 22:47-49

The צוּר thrust into 2Sa 22:47 is troublesome. וירם (without any necessity for correcting it to וירם) is optative, cf. Gen 27:31; Pro 9:4, Pro 9:16. Instead of ויּדבּר we have וּמריד and who subdueth, which is less significant and so far as the syntax is concerned less elegant. Also here consequently תּחתּני for תּחתּי. Instead of מפלּטי we find וּמוציאי and who bringeth me forth out of my enemies, who surround me - a peculiar form of expression and without support elsewhere (for it is different in 2Sa 22:20). The poetical אף is exchanged for the prose וּ, מן־קמי for מקּמי, and חמס (אישׁ) for חמסים; the last being a plur. (Psa 140:2, Psa 140:5; Pro 4:17), which is foreign to the genuine Davidic Psalms.

2Sa 22:50-51

The change of position of יהוה in 2Sa 22:50, as well as אזמּר for אזמּרה, is against the rhythm; the latter, moreover, is contrary to custom, Psa 57:10; Psa 108:4. While מדגל of the other text is not pointed מגדּל, but מגדּל, it is corrected in this text from מגדיל into מגדּול tower of salvation - a figure that recalls Psa 61:4, Pro 18:10, but is obscure and somewhat strange in this connection; moreover, migdol for migdal, a tower, only occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament as a proper name.

If we now take one more glance over the mutual relationship of the two texts, we cannot say that both texts equally partake of the original. With the exception of the correct omission of 2Sa 22:14 and the readings משׁבּרי, חשׁרת, and אפיקי ים there is scarcely anything in the text of 2 Sam 22 that specially commends itself to us. That this text is a designed, and perhaps a Davidic, revision of the other text (Hengst.), is an assumption that is devoid of reason and appearance; for in 2 Sam 22 we have only a text that varies in some instances, but not a substantially new form of the text. The text in 2 Sam 22, as it has shown us, is founded upon careless written and oral transmission. The rather decided tendency towards a defective form of writing leads one to conjecture the greater antiquity of the copy from which it is taken. It is easy to understand how poetical passages inserted in historical works were less carefully dealt with. It is characteristic of the form of the text of the Psalm in 2 Sam 22, that in not a few instances the licences of popular expression have crept into it. There is some truth in what Böttcher says, when he calls the text in the Psalter the recension of the priests and that in the Second Book of Samuel the recension of the laity.

David's Triumphs in God; Devout Confidence.

1 I will love thee, O Lord , my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3 I will call upon the Lord , who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. 4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. 6 In my distress I called upon the Lord , and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. 7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. 8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. 9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. 10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. 12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. 13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. 14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. 15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord , at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. 16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. 18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. 19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

The title gives us the occasion of penning this psalm; we had it before (2 Sam. xxii. 1), only here we are told that the psalm was delivered to the chief musician, or precentor, in the temple-songs. Note, The private compositions of good men, designed by them for their own use, may be serviceable to the public, that others may not only borrow light from their candle, but heat from their fire. Examples sometimes teach better than rules. And David is here called the servant of the Lord, as Moses was, not only as every good man is God's servant, but because, with his sceptre, with his sword, and with his pen, he greatly promoted the interests of God's kingdom in Israel. It was more his honour that he was a servant of the Lord than that he was king of a great kingdom; and so he himself accounted it (Ps. cxvi. 16): O Lord! truly I am thy servant. In these verses,

I. He triumphs in God and his relation to him. The first words of the psalm, I will love thee, O Lord! my strength, are here prefixed as the scope and contents of the whole. Love to God is the first and great commandment of the law, because it is the principle of all our acceptable praise and obedience; and this use we should make of all the mercies God bestows upon us, our hearts should thereby be enlarged in love to him. This he requires and will accept; and we are very ungrateful if we grudge him so poor a return. An interest in the person loved is the lover's delight; this string therefore he touches, and on this he harps with much pleasure (v. 2): "The Lord Jehovah is my God; and then he is my rock, my fortress, all that I need and can desire in my present distress." For there is that in God which is suited to all the exigencies and occasions of his people that trust in him. "He is my rock, and strength, and fortress;" that is, 1. "I have found him so in the greatest dangers and difficulties." 2. "I have chosen him to be so, disclaiming all others, and depending upon him alone to protect me." Those that truly love God may thus triumph in him as theirs, and may with confidence call upon him, v. 3. This further use we should make of our deliverances, we must not only love God the better, but love prayer the better—call upon him as long as we live, especially in time of trouble, with an assurance that so we shall be saved; for thus it is written, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, Acts ii. 21.

II. He sets himself to magnify the deliverances God had wrought for him, that he might be the more affected in his returns of praise. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy, which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it.

1. The more imminent and threatening the danger was out of which we were delivered the greater is the mercy of the deliverance. David now remembered how the forces of his enemies poured in upon him, which he calls the floods of Belial, shoals of the children of Belial, likely to overpower him with numbers. They surrounded him, compassed him about; they surprised him, and by that means were very near seizing him; their snares prevented him, and, when without were fightings, within were fears and sorrows, v. 4, 5. His spirit was overwhelmed, and he looked upon himself as a lost man; see Ps. cxvi. 3.

2. The more earnest we have been with God for deliverance, and the more direct answer it is to our prayers, the more we are obliged to be thankful. David's deliverances were so, v. 6. David was found a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. Though distress drive us to prayer, God will not therefore be deaf to us; nay, being a God of pity, he will be the more ready to succour us.

3. The more wonderful God's appearances are in any deliverance the greater it is: such were the deliverances wrought for David, in which God's manifestation of his presence and glorious attributes is most magnificently described, v. 7, &c. Little appeared of man, but much of God, in these deliverances. (1.) He appeared a God of almighty power; for he made the earth shake and tremble, and moved even the foundations of the hills (v. 7), as of old at Mount Sinai. When the men of the earth were struck with fear, then the earth might be said to tremble; when the great men of the earth were put into confusion, then the hills moved. (2.) He showed his anger and displeasure against the enemies and persecutors of his people: He was wroth, v. 7. His wrath smoked, it burned, it was fire, it was devouring fire (v. 8), and coals were kindled by it. Those that by their own sins make themselves as coals (that is, fuel) to this fire will be consumed by it. He that ordains his arrows against the persecutors sends them forth when he pleases, and they are sure to hit the mark and do execution; for those arrows are lightnings, v. 14. (3.) He showed his readiness to plead his people's cause and work deliverance for them; for he rode upon a cherub and did fly, for the maintaining of right and the relieving of his distressed servants, v. 10. No opposition, no obstruction, can be given to him who rides upon the wings of the wind, who rides on the heavens, for the help of his people, and, in his excellency, on the skies. (4.) He showed his condescension, in taking cognizance of David's case: He bowed the heavens and came down (v. 9), did not send an angel, but came himself, as one afflicted in the afflictions of his people. (5.) He wrapped himself in darkness, and yet commanded light to shine out of darkness for his people, Isa. xlv. 15. He is a God that hideth himself; for he made darkness his pavilion, v. 11. his glory is invisible, his counsels are unsearchable, and his proceedings unaccountable, and so, as to us, clouds and darkness are round about him; we know not the way that he takes, even when he is coming towards us in ways of mercy; but, when his designs are secret, they are kind; for, though he hide himself, he is the God of Israel, the Saviour. And, at his brightness, the thick clouds pass (v. 12), comfort returns, the face of affairs is changed, and that which was gloomy and threatening becomes serene and pleasant.

4. The greater the difficulties are that lie in the way of deliverance the more glorious the deliverance is. For the rescuing of David, the waters were to be divided till the very channels were seen; the earth was to be cloven till the very foundations of it were discovered, v. 15. There were waters deep and many, waters out of which he was to be drawn (v. 16), as Moses, who had his name from being drawn out of the water literally, as David was figuratively. His enemies were strong, and they hated him; had he been left to himself, they would have been too strong for him, v. 17. And they were too quick for him; for they prevented him in the day of his calamity, v. 18. But, in the midst of his troubles, the Lord was his stay, so that he did not sink. Note, God will not only deliver his people out of their troubles in due time, but he will sustain them and bear them up under their troubles in the mean time.

5. That which especially magnified the deliverance was that his comfort was the fruit of it and God's favour was the root and fountain of it. (1.) It was an introduction to his preferment, v. 19. "He brought me forth also out of my straits into a large place, where I had room, not only to turn, but to thrive in." (2.) It was a token of God's favour to him, and that made it doubly sweet: "He delivered me because he delighted in me, not for my merit, but for his own grace and good-will." Compare this with 2 Sam. xv. 26, If he thus say, I have no delight in thee, here I am. We owe our salvation, that great deliverance, to the delight God had in the Son of David, in whom he has declared himself to be well pleased.

In singing this we must triumph in God, and trust in him: and we may apply it to Christ the Son of David. The sorrows of death surrounded him; in his distress he prayed (Heb. v. 7); God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, into a large place, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.

Devout Thanksgivings; Devout Confidence

20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord , and have not wickedly departed from my God. 22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. 23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. 24 Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. 25 With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; 26 With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward. 27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. 28 For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

Here, I. David reflects with comfort upon his own integrity, and rejoices in the testimony of his conscience that he had had his conversation in godly sincerity and not with fleshly wisdom, 2 Cor. i. 12. His deliverances were an evidence of this, and this was the great comfort of his deliverances. His enemies had misrepresented him, and perhaps, when his troubles continued long, he began to suspect himself; but, when God visibly took his part, he had both the credit and the comfort of his righteousness. 1. His deliverances cleared his innocency before men, and acquitted him from those crimes which he was falsely accused of. This he calls rewarding him according to his righteousness (v. 20, 24), that is, determining the controversy between him and his enemies, according to the justice of his cause and the cleanness of his hands, from that sedition, treason, and rebellion, with which he was charged. He had often appealed to God concerning his innocency; and now God had given judgment upon the appeal (as he always will) according to equity. 2. They confirmed the testimony of his own conscience for him, which he here reviews with a great deal of pleasure, v. 21-23. His own heart knows, and is ready to attest it, (1.) That he had kept firmly to his duty, and had not departed, not wickedly, not wilfully departed, from his God. Those that forsake the ways of the Lord do, in effect, depart from their God, and it is a wicked thing to do so. But though we are conscious to ourselves of many a stumble, and many a false step taken, yet if we recover ourselves by repentance, and go on in the way of our duty, it shall not be construed into a departure, for it is not a wicked departure, from our God. (2.) That he had kept his eye upon the rule of God's commands (v. 22): "All his judgments were before me; and I had a respect to them all, despised none as little, disliked none as hard, but made it my care and business to conform to them all. His statutes I did not put away from me, out of my sight, out of my mind, but kept my eye always upon them, and did not as those who, because they would quit the ways of the Lord, desire not the knowledge of those ways." (3.) That he had kept himself from his iniquity, and thereby had approved himself upright before God. Constant care to abstain from that sin, whatever it be, which most easily besets us, and to mortify the habit of it, will be a good evidence for us that we are upright before God. As David's deliverances cleared his integrity, so did the exaltation of Christ clear his, and for ever roll away the reproach that was cast upon him; and therefore he is said to be justified in the Spirit, 1 Tim. iii. 16.

II. He takes occasion thence to lay down the rules of God's government and judgment, that we may know not only what God expects from us, but what we may expect from him, v. 25, 26. 1. Those that show mercy to others (even they need mercy, and cannot depend upon the merit, no, not of their works of mercy) shall find mercy with God, Matt. v. 7. 2. Those that are faithful to their covenants with God, and the relations wherein they stand to him, shall find him all that to them which he has promised to be. Wherever God finds an upright man, he will be found an upright God. 3. Those that serve God with a pure conscience shall find that the words of the Lord are pure words, very sure to be depended on and very sweet to be delighted in. 4. Those that resist God, and walk contrary to him, shall find that he will resist them, and walk contrary to them, Lev. xxvi. 21, 24.

III. Hence he speaks comfort to the humble ("Thou wilt save the afflicted people, that are wronged and bear it patiently"), terror to the proud ("Thou wilt bring down high looks, that aim high, and look with scorn and disdain upon the poor and pious"), and encouragement to himself—"Thou wilt light my candle, that is, thou wilt revive and comfort my sorrowful spirit, and not leave me melancholy; thou wilt recover me out of my troubles and restore me to peace and prosperity; thou wilt make my honour bright, which is now eclipsed; thou wilt guide my way, and make it plain before me, that I may avoid the snares laid for me; thou wilt light my candle to work by, and give me an opportunity of serving thee and the interests of thy kingdom among men."

Let those that walk in darkness, and labour under many discouragements in singing these verses, encourage themselves that God himself will be a light to them.

Grateful Remembrance of Past Deliverances; Confidence in the Divine Goodness.

29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. 30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. 31 For who is God save the Lord ? or who is a rock save our God? 32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. 33 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. 34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. 35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. 36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. 37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed. 38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. 39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. 40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. 41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the Lord , but he answered them not. 42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. 43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me. 44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me. 45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. 46 The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted. 47 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me. 48 He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord , among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. 50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

In these verses,

I. David looks back, with thankfulness, upon the great things which God had done for him. He had not only wrought deliverance for him, but had given him victory and success, and made him triumph over those who thought to triumph over him. When we set ourselves to praise God for one mercy we must be led by that to observe the many more with which we have been compassed about, and followed, all our days. Many things had contributed to David's advancement, and he owns the hand of God in them all, to teach us to do likewise, in reviewing the several steps by which we have risen to our prosperity. 1. God had given him all his skill and understanding in military affairs, which he was not bred up to nor designed for, his genius leading him more to music, and poetry, and a contemplative life: He teaches my hands to war, v. 34. 2. God had given him bodily strength to go through the business and fatigue of war: God girded him with strength (v. 32, 39), to such a degree that he could break even a bow of steel, v. 34. What service God designs men for he will be sure to fit them for. 3. God had likewise given him great swiftness, not to flee from the enemies but to fly upon them (v. 33): He makes my feet like hinds' feet, v. 36. "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; but" (whereas those that take large steps are apt to tread awry) "my feet did not slip." He was so swift that he pursued his enemies and overtook them, v. 37. 4. God had made him very bold and daring in his enterprises, and given him spirit proportionable to his strength. If a troop stood in his way, he made nothing of running through them; if a wall, he made nothing of leaping over it (v. 29); if ramparts and bulwarks, he soon mounted them, and by divine assistance set his feet upon the high places of the enemy, v. 33. 5. God had protected him, and kept him safe, in the midst of the greatest perils. Many a time he put his life in his hand, and yet it was wonderfully preserved: "Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation (v. 35), and that has compassed me on every side. By that I have been delivered from the strivings of the people who aimed at my destruction (v. 43), particularly from the violent man" (v. 48), that is, Saul, who more than once threw a javelin at him. 6. God had prospered him in his designs; he it was that made his way perfect (v. 32) and it was his right hand that held him up, v. 35. 7. God had given him victory over his enemies, the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and all that fought against Israel: those especially he means, yet not excluding the house of Saul, which opposed his coming to the crown, and the partisans of Absalom and Sheba, who would have deposed him. He enlarges much upon the goodness of God to him in defeating his enemies, attributing his victories, not to his own sword or bow, nor to the valour of his mighty men, but to the favour of God: I pursued them (v. 37), I wounded them (v. 38); for thou hast girded me with strength (v. 39), else I could not have done it. All the praise is ascribed to God: Thou hast subdued them under me, v. 39. Thou hast given me their necks (v. 40), not only to trample upon them (as Josh. x. 24), but to cut them off. Even those who hated David whom God loved, and were enemies to the Israel of God, in their distress cried unto the Lord: but in vain; he answered them not. How could they expect he should when it was he whom they fought against? And, when he disowned them (as he will all those that act against his people), no other succours could stand them in stead: There was none to save them, v. 41. Those whom God has abandoned are easily vanquished: Then did I beat them small as the dust, v. 42. But those whose cause is just he avenges (v. 47), and those whom he favours will certainly be lifted up above those that rise up against them, v. 48. 8. God had raised him to the throne, and not only delivered him and kept him alive, but dignified him and made him great (v. 35): Thy gentleness has increased me—thy discipline and instruction; so some. The good lessons David learned in his affliction prepared him for the dignity and power that were intended him; and the lessening of him helped very much to increase his greatness. God made him not only a great conqueror, but a great ruler: Thou hast made me the head of the heathen (v. 43); all the neighbouring nations were tributaries to him. See 2 Sam. viii. 6, 11. In all this David was a type of Christ, whom the Father brought safely through his conflicts with the powers of darkness, and made victorious over them, and gave to be head over all things to his church, which is his body.

II. David looks up with humble and reverent adorations of the divine glory and perfection. When God had, by his providence, magnified him, he endeavours, with his praises, to magnify God, to bless him and exalt him, v. 46. He gives honour to him, 1. As a living God: The Lord liveth, v. 46. We had our lives at first from, and we owe the continuance of them to, that God who has life in himself and is therefore fitly called the living God. The gods of the heathen were dead gods. The best friends we have among men are dying friends. But God lives, lives for ever, and will not fail those that trust in him, but, because he lives, they shall live also; for he is their life. 2. As a finishing God: As for God, he is not only perfect himself, but his way is perfect, v. 30. He is known by his name Jehovah (Exod. vi. 3), a God performing and perfecting what he begins in providence as well as creation, Gen. ii. 1. If it was God that made David's way perfect (v. 32), much more is his own way so. There is no flaw in God's works, nor any fault to be found with what he does, Eccl. iii. 14. And what he undertakes he will go through with, whatever difficulties lie in the way; what God begins to build he is able to finish. 3. As a faithful God: The word of the Lord is tried. "I have tried it" (says David), "and it has not failed me." All the saints, in all ages, have tried it, and it never failed any that trusted in it. It is tried as silver is tried, refined from all such mixture and alloy as lessen the value of men's words. David, in God's providences concerning him, takes notice of the performance of his promises to him, which, as it puts sweetness into the providence, so it puts honour upon the promise. 4. As the protector and defender of his people. David had found him so to him: "He is the God of my salvation (v. 46), by whose power and grace I am and hope to be saved; but not of mine only: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him (v. 30); he shelters and protects them all, is both able and ready to do so." 5. As a non-such in all this, v. 31. There is a God, and who is God save Jehovah? That God is a rock, for the support and shelter of his faithful worshippers; and who is a rock save our God? Thus he not only gives glory to God, but encourages his own faith in him. Note, (1.) Whoever pretends to be deities, it is certain that there is no God, save the Lord; all others are counterfeits, Isa. xliv. 8; Jer. x. 10. (2.) Whoever pretends to be our felicities, there is no rock, save our God; none that we can depend upon to make us happy.

III. David looks forward, with a believing hope that God would still do him good. He promises himself, 1. That his enemies should be completely subdued, and that those of them that yet remained should be made his footstool,—that his government should be extensive, so that even a people whom he had not known should serve him (v. 43),—that his conquests, and, consequently, his acquests, should be easy (As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me, v. 44), —and that his enemies should be convinced that it was to no purpose to oppose him; even those that had retired to their fastnesses should not trust to them, but be afraid out of their close places, having seen so much of David's wisdom, courage, and success. Thus the Son of David, though he sees not yet all things put under him, yet knows he shall reign till all opposing rule, principality, and power shall be quite put down. 2. That his seed should be forever continued in the Messiah, who, he foresaw, should come from his loins, v. 50. He shows mercy to his anointed, his Messiah, to David himself, the anointed of the God of Jacob in the type, and to his seed for evermore. He saith not unto seeds, as of many, but to his seed, as of one, that is Christ, Gal. iii. 16. It is he only that shall reign for ever, and of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end. Christ is called David, Hos. iii. 5. God has called him his king, Ps. ii. 6. Great deliverance God does give, and will give to him, and to his church and people, here called his seed, for evermore.

In singing these verses we must give God the glory of the victories of Christ and his church hitherto and of all the deliverances and advancements of the gospel kingdom, and encourage ourselves and one another with an assurance that the church militant will be shortly triumphant, will be eternally so.

PSAL. XVIII.

To the Master of the Musicke a Psalme of the servant of Iehovah, of David, which spake to Iehovah the words of this song, in the day that Iehovah had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. And he said;

I Will dearely love thee, Iehovah my firme strength. Iehovah, my rock and my sortresse, and my deliverer, my God, my rocke, in whom I hope for shelter, my shield and horne of my salvation, mine high defence. I called upon the praised Iehovah, and from mine enemies I was saved. The pangs of death compassed mee, and the streames of Belial frighted me. The pangs of hell went round about mee, the snares of death prevented me. In the distresse upon me, I called on Iehovah, and unto my God I cried out: he heard my voice out of his Palace, and my out-crie before him entred into his eares. And the earth shaked and quaked, and the foundations of the mountaines were stirred; and they shooke themselves, because he was wroth. Smoke ascended in his anger, and fire out of his mouth did eat; coales burned from it. And he bowed the heavens and came downe, and gloomy darknesse was under his feet. And he rode upon the Cherub, and did fly; and he flew swiftly upon the wings of the wind. He set darknesse his secret place, round about him his pavilion: darknesse of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

From the brightnesse that was before him his thick clouds passed away, haile, and coales of fire. And Iehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most high gave his voice, haile and coales of fire. And he sent his arrowes, and scattered them afunder: and lightnings he hurled forth, and terribly strucke them downe. And the channels of waters were seene, and the foundations of the world were revealed: at thy rebuke, Iehovah, at the breath of the wind of thine anger. He sent from the high place, hee tooke me, hee drew me out of many waters▪ He rid mee from my strong enemie, and from my haters, for they were mightier than I. They prevented me in the day of my cloudy calamitie: and Iehovah was for a staffe unto me. And he brought me forth to a large roomth: hee released me because he delighted in me.

Iehovah rewarded me according to my justice: according to the purenesse of my hands rendred he unto me. Because I observed the wayes of Iehovah, and did not wickedly from my God. For all his judgements were before me, and his decrees I did not turne away from me. And I was perfect with him, and kept my selfe from mine iniquitie. And Iehovah rendred to me according to my justice, according to the purenesse of my hands before his eyes.

With the gracious Saint thou wilt shew thy selfe gracious: with the perfect man thou wilt shew thy selfe perfect. With the pure thou wil[illegible: 1 letter] shew thy selfe pure: and with the froward thou wilt shew thy selfe wry. For thou wilt save the poore afflicted people, and wilt bring low the loftie eyes. For thou hast lighted my candle, Iehovah my God hath brightned my darknesse. For by thee I have broken thorow an host, and by my God I have leaped over a wall. God his way is perfect, the saying of Iehovah is tried, he is a shield to all that hope for safety in him. For who is God besides Iehovah? and who is a rocke except our God? God that girdeth me with valour, and giveth my way perfect. He matcheth my feet as Hindes feet: and upon my high places hee maketh me stand. He learneth my hands to the warre, and a bow of brasse is broken with mine armes. And thou hast given to me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand▪ hath upheld me, and thy meeknesse hath made me to increase. Thou hast widened my passage under me: and my legs have not staggered. I followed mine enemies, and over tooke them, and turned not till I had consumed them. I wounded them, and they could not rise up: they fell under my feet. And thou hast girded me with valour to the warre: them that rose against mee thou hast made to stoope downe under me.

And thou hast given to me the necke of mine enemies: and them that hated me I have, suppressed. They cried out, but there was none to save; unto Iehovah, but hee answered them not. And I did beat them small as dust before the wind: as the clay of the streets, I did powre them out. Thou hast delivered me from the contentions of the people: thou hast put me for the head of the heathens: a people whō I have not known doe serve me. At the hearing of the eare they obey me: the sonnes of the stranger falsly denie unto me. The sons of the stranger fade away and shrinke for feare, out of their closets. Iehovah live, & blessed be my rocke, and exalted be the God of my salvation. The God that giveth vengeances to me, and subdueth peoples under me. My deliverer from mine enemies, also from them that rose up against me, thou hast exalted me, from the man of violent wrong thou hast rid me. Therefore I will confesse thee among the heathens, Iehovah, and to thy name I will sing Psalme. Hee maketh great the salvations of his King, and doth mercie to his annointed; to David and to his seed for ever.

Annotations. THe servant of Iehovah] So he intituleth him-selfe here, and in Psal. 36. 1. for his service in administring the kingdome. This song is also written in 2 Sam. 22. with some little change of a few words which shall be observed. hand of Saul] which noteth the power of the King, above that which is noted by the hand or palme of other enemies: yet for this word hand, in 2 Sam. 22. 1. is used palme: the Chaldee expoundeth it, the sword of Saul. Vers. 2. I will dearely love] or, I love heartily with my inmost bowels. The originall word is in this place for intire love; but otherwhere is often used for tender mercie, or bowels of compassion, Psal. 25. 6. and 102. 14. and 103. 13. This verse is added here, more than in 1 Sam. 22. Vers. 3. fortresse] or, munition, a place or hold to flee unto, when one is hunted and chased. See Ps. 31. 3. rocke] Two names of a Rocke are in this verse; the first Selangh, a firme stony Rocke or cliffe; the latter, Tsur, a strong or sharpe rocke, and is often the title of God himselfe, and turned in Greeke, Theos, that is, God, as in the 32 and 47 verses of this Psalme, Deut. 32. 4. 18. 30, 31. Psal. 71. 3. and in many other places. horne of my salvation] that is, the horne that saveth me. A horne signifieth power and glory, Psal. 92. 11. Amos 6. 13. Hab. 3. 4. therefore hornes are used to signifie Kings, Dan▪ 8. [illegible: 1 word]. R[illegible: 1 letter]v [illegible: 1 letter]7. 12. And Christ is called the horne of salvation, Luke 1. 69. high defence] or tower, [illegible: 1 span] ▪ See Psal. 9. 10. In 2. Sa[illegible: 1 letter]. 2[illegible: 1 letter]. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ there is added more, and my ref[illegible: 1 letter]ge▪ my Saviour from violent wrong [illegible: 1 word] savest [illegible: 1 word]. Vers. 4. P[illegible: 2 letters]ifed] that is, glorious, excellent praise [illegible: 1 span] ▪ and accordingly for his [illegible: 1 word] usually [illegible: 1 word] of his people. So Psal. 48. [illegible: 1 word]. The Chaldee [illegible: 1 span]deth it, with a praise (o[illegible: 1 letter] Hy[illegible: 1 letter]ne) I prayed before the Lord. And the Greeke, praising I will call upon the Lord. Vers. 5. the pangs] paines, throwes▪ sorrowes, as of a woman in childbirth; so the originall word signifieth, Hos. 13. 13. Esay 13. 8. and 66. 7. and so the Chaldee explaineth it, Anguish compassed mee as of a woman which sit[illegible: 2 letters]th in the birth, and hath no strength to bring forth, and she is in danger of death. Or, The [illegible: 1 letter]ands, the [illegible: 1 word]: (as the word also signifieth, Iob 36. 8. Prov. 5. 22.) For this in [illegible: 1 word] Sam. 22. 5. another word is used, that signifieth breaches; which also is applied to the breaking forth of children at the birth, H[illegible: 1 letter]s. 13. 13. E[illegible: 2 letters] ▪ 37. 3. and to the [illegible: 1 word] of the sea, Psal. 42. 8. streames] or brooks, bournes. The originall word Nachal is used as our English bourne, both for a brooke or streame running in a valley, and for the valley it selfe, 1 Kings 17▪ 3, 4. Waters do often figure out afflictions, Psal. 69. 2. 3. [illegible: 1 letter]ournes or stre[illegible: 4 letters] of waters, meane vehement and violent afflictions, Psal. 124. 4. Ier. 47. 2. Belial] or [illegible: 1 word]. The Hebrew Bel[illegible: 1 span] (which the Apostle in Greek calleth Belial, [illegible: 1 word] Cor. 6. 15.) i[illegible: 1 letter] used [illegible: 1 word] extreme mischiefe and wickednesse, or most impious and mischie[illegible: 2 letters]ous persons, called sonnes of Belial, Deut. 13. 13▪ daughters of B[illegible: 1 letter] lial, 1 Sam. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1 word] ▪ men of Belial, 1. Sam. 25. 25. and sometime B[illegible: 1 span] it selfe, as in Nah. 1. 15. Belial shall no more passe th[illegible: 1 span] thee; and 2 Sam. 23. 6. Belial shall be every one as thornes thrust away: and Iob 34. 18. Wilt [illegible: 1 word] say to a King▪ Belial? It is also applied to speciall sinnes and sinners, as a witnesse of Belial, Prov. 19. 28. a counseller of Beli[illegible: 1 letter]l, Nah. 1. 15. Also to mischievous thoughts, words or things. De[illegible: 1 letter]t. 15. 9. Psal. 41. 9. and 101. 3. The Apostle opposeth Belial to Christ, 2 C[illegible: 2 letters]. 6. 15. and it seemeth to be put for the Devill or Satan, (as the Sy [illegible: 4 letters] and Arabik translations there explaine Pauls [illegible: 2 words] for Antichrist; for so Belial is opposed to Christ and his kingdome, 2 Sam. 23. 6. By interpretation, Belial signifieth an Vnthrift, or Without [illegible: 1 word] lawlesse; [illegible: 1 word] Antichrist is named the lawlesse man, [illegible: 1 word] Thess. 2. 8. and in this Psalme the Greeke [illegible: 1 word] streames of lawlesnesse, or iniquitie: which the Chaldee Paraphrast calleth the company of the unrighteous▪ frighted me] skar[illegible: 1 letter]d, or vexed [illegible: 2 words]. This word is used of Sauls vexation by a[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 word] spirit, [illegible: 2 words]. 16. 14▪ 15. Vers. 6. of hell] which the Chaldee expoundeth, a company of [illegible: 3 letters]ked persons. snares of death] deadly sha[illegible: 3 letters], [illegible: 2 words] for my death; a similitude [illegible: 1 word] from [illegible: 2 words], Eccles. 9. 12. So [illegible: 1 word]. 13. 14. and 14. [illegible: 1 letter]7. The Chaldee explaineth [illegible: 2 words] [illegible: 1 letter]rmed with weapons of s[illegible: 1 letter]aughter. Pre [illegible: 1 span] me] that is, were ready to take hold on mee [illegible: 1 span]denly and unawares. Vers. 7. distresse upon me] or to me, that is, in that my distresse, or while it was upon me. So Psal. [illegible: 1 letter]6. 1[illegible: 1 letter]. be heard] The Hebrew properly is, will heare; but the time to come is often put for the time past; therefore in 2 Sam. 22. 7. it is plainly written, and [illegible: 1 letter]e heard: so after in the 12. verse, [illegible: 1 letter]ee will set, which in Samuel is written, and [illegible: 1 letter]ee set: againe in the 14▪ verse, thundred; for which in Samuel is written, will thunder: the like may be observed of the Hebrew phrase, in the 16. 39. 41. [illegible: 1 word] 44. verses of this Psalme, compared with the same in 2 Sam. 22. So often in other scriptures, which the Hebrew text it selfe sometime sheweth, as hikki[illegible: 3 letters] they smote him, 2 Chron. 22. 6. for which in 2 King. 8. 29. is written, jakkuh[illegible: 2 letters]. See also the note on Psal. [illegible: 1 word]. 1. his palace] or his Temple: which the Chaldee explaineth thus; He[illegible: 1 letter] received my prayer from the Palace of his sanctu[illegible: 1 letter]rie which is in heaven. entred] or came into; this word is omitted in 2 Sam. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. supplied here; as oftentimes there want words, which are to be understood. So vers. [illegible: 1 word] and Psal. 69. 11. Vers. 8. foundations of the mounts] that is, the roots and [illegible: 1 word] of the mountaines. By these and the words following, under the similitude of a sore tempestuous weather, Gods judgements against the wicked are excellently set for[illegible: 1 letter]h. Compare herewith Psal. 82. 5. and Deut. 32. [illegible: 1 word]. where the foundations of the mountaines are set on fire. For mount[illegible: 1 letter]ine[illegible: 1 letter] in 2 Sam. [illegible: 1 letter]2. 8. is written heavens, either for that the mountaines reaching high, seeme to be the foundation, and as they are called in Iob 26. 11▪ the pillars of heaven; or in a mysticall sense, as the shaking of heaven and earth▪ signifieth the changing of civill polities and of religions, Heb. 12. [illegible: 1 letter]6▪ 27. he was wroth] or kindled to him was his anger; or b[illegible: 2 letters]ne did his nose: for in the Hebrew another word is sometimes added, which signifieth anger or nose, Deut. 6. 15. Exod. 32. 11. See the notes on Psal. 2. 5. and the note here following. The Greeke translateth, for God was angry with them. Vers. 9. in his anger] or, in his nose: the like speech is in Esa. 65. 5. these are a smoke in my anger; or, for these a smoke is in my nose: and it noteth sore indig[illegible: 1 span] ▪ for smoke is a signe of vehement anger, Psal. 74. 1. and 80. 5. Deut. 29. 20. This narration here may bee compared with the giving of the Law, Exod. 19. 18, &c. where was smoke, fire, earthquake, thunder, lightning, and the like. For these with the speeches following of clouds, windes, tempests, thunderbolts, haile, &c. doe lively describe Gods Majestie, appearing in his workes, & for punishment of his enemies, as Exod. 9. 23, 24. Iosh. 10. 11. Iudg. 5. 20. 1 Sam. 2. 10. and 7. 10. and 12. 17. Rev. 16. 18. 21. did eat] that is, consume. See Psal. 50. 3. The Chaldee expoundeth it, hee sent his wrath like-burning fire▪ coles of fire were kindled at his word. Vers. 10. he bowed the heavens] This was for the helpe of David, and discomfiture of his enemies: therefore the Prophet prayeth for the like againe, Psal. 144. 5, 6. Esai. 64. 1, 2. and came downe] that is, as the Chaldee openeth it, his glory appeared. gloomie darknesse] myrke and thicke darknesse, or a darke cloud: as a Chron. 6. 1. Iob. 22. 13. such as was on mount Sinar, when God came downe on it, Deut. 4. 11. and 5. 22. a signe of terrour, as the Apostle sheweth, Heb. 12. 18. [illegible: 1 word] Psal. 97. 2. Vers. 11. on the Cherub] a Cherub, and the plurall number, Cherubim of Cherubines, is a name given to the Angeli▪ Gen. 3. 25. and to the golden winged images which were in the tabernacle and temple, Exod. 25. 18, 19, 20. 1 King. 6. 23, 24, 25, 29. 32. The living creatures also which Ezekiel saw in vision, Ezech. 1. 5. are called Cherubines, Ezek. 10. 1. 1[illegible: 1 letter]. Likewise the king of Tyre is called an anointed and a covering Cherub, Ezek. 28. 14. 16. The Hebrew name hath affinitie with Rechub a Cha[illegible: 1 span], used in Psal. 104. 3. almost in like sense as Cherub is here; and the Cherubines are called a Chariot, 1 Chron. 28. 18. and Gods Angels are his Chariots, Psal. 68. 18. and they seeme to be meant in this place; for as the Angels are said to flie, Dan. 9. 21. so the Cherubines had wings, Exod. 25. 2[illegible: 1 letter]. and are of the Apostle called Cherubines of glory, Heb. 9. 5. In Psal. 80. 2. God is said to sit on the Cherubines; as here, to ride and a Cherub may be put for many or all the Cherubims, as chariot for chariots, Psal. 68. 18. See the note on Psal. 8. 9. The Chaldee paraphraseth thus; And hee was seene in his strength upon the light Cherubims; and brought his power upon the wings of the Whirle-winde. slew swiftly] or glansed; a similitude taken from Eagles and like swift fowles that flie with aswinge, Deut. 28. 49. Ier. 48. 40. For this, in 2 Sam. 22. 11. is written jera▪ that is, he was seene: which here with little difference of one letter is jede, that is, he flew switly. So in Psal. 104. 3. God is said to walke upon the wings of the winde. Vers. 12. his pavilion] or covert, tabernacle. In the Chaldee it is explained thus; Hee placed his divine presence in the darknesse, and his glory was compassed with clouds as a pavilion: and hee made raine to come downe upon his people, and mighty waters from the moving of the darke clouds upon the wicked, from the heigth of the world. darknesse of waters] that is, darke blacke waters: meaning watrie clouds, as Psal. 104. 3. & 29. 3. In 2 Sam. 22. 12. this is thus set downe: and he set darknesse round about him, for boothes▪ blacknesse of waters, &c. the skies] that is, the heavens, named in Hebrew Shechakim, of their thin fine and subtill substance. Vers. 13. passed away] that is, vanished; for Gods brightnesse expelled them. So passing away, is used for vanishing, Esai. 29. 5. haile and coles] that is, there was, or there came haile, to wit, from his brightnesse, as in 2 Sam. 22. 13. it is written, From the brightnesse before him there burned coles of fire. Haile and fire are instruments of Gods warre and punishment, Iob. 38. 22, 23. Iosh. 10. 11. Rev. 16. 21. Zach. 12. 6. Ezek. 10. 2. Vers. 14. thundred] this also is a signe of Gods anger, 1 Sam. 2. 10. and 7. 10. Isa. 29. 6. and of his power and glory, Psal. 29. 3. and 77. 19. Iob 26. 14. and 37. 4, 5. and 40. 4. gave his voice] a common phrase for all loud and high speech▪ cry, noise, thundring, &c. Psal. 46. 7. and 68. 34. and 77. 18. and 104. [illegible: 1 span]. Num. 14. 1. 2 Chron. 24. 9. Hab. 3. 10. The Chaldee expoundeth it thus, the most high lifted up his word, he cast haile and coles of fire. [illegible: 1 word] of fire] that is, fiery vapours, lightnings, &c. This sentence is omitted, in 2 Sam. 22. 14. and is wanting also in the Greeke verson here. Vers. 15. [illegible: 1 word] arrowes] the instruments of his wrath and judgements; for God hath arrowes of pestilence, Psal. 91. 5▪ of samine, Ezek. 5. 16. and other arrowes to wound the hearts of his enemies, Psal. 45. 6. and 64. 8. or to afflict his children, Psal. 38. 3. Iob 6. 4. Here and in Psal. 144. 6. by arrowes may be meant thunderbolts, or the hailestones forementioned; as the hailestones that fell, Ios. 10. 11. are called arrowes, Hab. 3. 11. The Chaldee saith, he sent his word as arrowes. he hurled] or, he shot, as the word signifieth, Gen. 49. 23. it may also be turned, he multiplied. This is omitted in 2 Sam. 22. 15. terribly strucke them downe] discomfited troubled, and felled them downe with dread, noise and tumu[illegible: 1 span]. This word is used in the examples of his wrath, Exod. 14. 24. Iosh. 10. 10. Iudg. 4. 15. 1 Sam. 7. 10. Deut. 7. 23. Vers. 16. channels of water.] that is, of the sea, 2 Sam. 22. 16. channels signifie violent currents, or forcible streames, running rivers. So Psal. 42. 2. and 126. 4. The Greeke here translateth them, fountains of waters. foundations of the world] that is, the deepe waters and maine [illegible: 1 word] whereon the world is founded, Psal. 24. 2. [illegible: 1 word]. wind of thine anger] or, of thy nose, as before, vers. 9. meaning a blast, storme, or whirle winde, which God in anger sent forth. This manner of speech is taken from Iob 4. 9. Vers. 17. drew me out, &c.] this hath reference to Moses case, who was drawne out of the water, and thereupon called Mosheh, Exod. 2. 10. that word Mashah is used here by David; and no where else in Scripture. Waters signifie troubles, as is noted vers. 5. and sometime multitudes of peoples, Rev. 17. 15. so the Chaldee turneth it here, he delivered me from many peoples. Vers. 19. cloudy calamitie] The Hebrew Aeid is a fog, vapour, or mistie cloud, Gen. 2. 6. Iob. 36. 27. by figure it is put for calamitie or misery of man, Deut. 32. 35. As elsewhere, the cloudy and darke day, Ezek. 34. 12. Vers. 22. frommy God] meaning by swarving, or turning away from him; which the Chaldee expresseth thus, I walked not in wickednesse before my God. Vers. 23. not turne away from me] in 2 Sam. 22, 23. it is, turned not away from it, that is, from any of his statutes. The Greeke translateth, they departed not fro[illegible: 1 span]. Vers. 24. from mine iniquitie] that is, from the iniquitie that I am prone to fall into. The Hebrew word signifieth that which is unright, unequall, crooked or perverse; opposed to that which is right; and is fitly applied. to sinne, and so translated by the Apostle, Rom. 4. 8. from Psal. 32. 2. In this estate we all are borne, Psal. 51. 7. so it noteth the viciositie or crookednesse of nature and originall sinne, which the Apostle called the sinne dwelling in him, Rom. 7. 17. and he that was first borne, first applied this word to himselfe, Gen. 4. 13. It is figuratively used oft times for punishment due to sinne: whereof see Psal. 31. 11. The Chaldee openeth this verse thus; And I was perfect in his feare, and he was the the saver of my soule from sinnes. Vers. 25. purenesse of my hands] in 2 Sam. 22. 25. my purenesse. Vers. 26. gracious] or mercifull, pious, godly. See Psal. 4. 4. man] or mighty one; called Geber, of his strength, valour, and superioritie: for which in 2 Sam. 22. 26. is put Gibbor, that is, Strong, or a champion: a mighty man, Psal. 19. 6. and 45. 4. with the froward thou wilt shew thy selfewry] A like speech is used in Moses, Levit. 26. 27, 28. if yee walke stubbornly against me, I will walke stubbornly in anger against you: But here David useth two words, whereof the first, froward or crooked, is alwaies spoken of doing evill and wrong; the latter word wry, not so, but is a similitude taken from [illegible: 1 letter]rastlers, and noteth a writhing of ones selfe against an adversary. The Chaldee Paraphrast applieth this gracious saint to Abraham; the perfect man, to Isaak; the pure, unto Iakob; and the froward, unto Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Vers. 28. the lofty eyes] In 2 Sam. 22. 28. it is thus set downe: and thine eyes are upon the lofty, that thou maist bring them low. Vers. 29. hast lighted my candle] or, doest lighten my lamp, that is, givest me comfort, joy, prosperitie after troubles; as on the contrarie, the wickeds candle shall be put out, Iob 18. 6. and 21. 17. Prov. 13. 9. and 24. 20. and 20. 20. In 2 Sam. 22. 29. this word lighted is left out to be understood, as before in the 7. verse. Sometime the eye is called the candle of the body, Mat. 6. 22. and Solomon saith, that a mans minde (or soule) is the candle of the Lord, Prov. 20. 27. sometime ones childe succeeding him in government, is his candle, Psal. 132. 17. 1 King. 11. 36. and 15. 4. Num. 21. 30. All these in David were lighted; and Christ his son according to the flesh, is the candle of the new Ierusalem. Rev. 21. 23. the true light, which lighteth every man that commeth into the world, Ioh. 1. 9. brightned my darknesse] that is, turned my griefe and affliction into joy and comfort, Iob 29. 3. Esth. 8. 16. Luk. 1. 79. Vers. 30. broken thorow an host] Hebr. shal breake, or run thorow an host, or troup. This, and the leaping over a wall which followeth, may be understood both of escaping danger himselfe, and of quelling his foes, and winning their walled cities, and both these speedily. The Chaldee explaineth it thus; For by thy word I shall multiply armies, and by the word of my God subdue fenced towers. Vers. 31. in him] the Chaldee saith, in his word. Vers. 32. who is a rocke] that is, a mighty saviour and defender. The Greeke here for Rocke hath a God; and in 2 Sam. 22. 32. a Greater. And this hath reference to the words of Anna, there is no rocke like our God, 1 Sam. 2. 2. Vers. 33. that girdeth me] that is, prepareth and strengtheneth me: therefore in 2 Sam. 22. 33. it is written, my strength: elsewhere he speaketh of being girded with joy, Psal. 30. 12. valour] or power, force, prowesse. And this word is used both for valour, activitie and courage of body & ruinde; also for a power, or army of men, Ps. 33. 16. and 136. 15. and also for wealth gotten by industrie, whereby men are able to doe much, Psal. 49. 7. 11. and 62. 11. and giveth] that is, maketh or disposeth my way to be perfect, that is, without impediment▪ or, as the Greeke translateth, without blemish. For giveth, in 2 Sam. 22. is, looseneth, which also freeth from let. Vers. 34. He matcheth my feet as hinds] that is, maketh me swift to runne like the Hindes, and so to escape danger, and stand safe upon my high places; which usually denoteth securitie, honour and prosperitie, Deut. 32. 13. and 33. 29. Isa. 58. 14. The like speech Habakuk hath in the end of his song, Hab. 3. 19. Vers. 35. bow of brasse] or of steele; and this is observed to be stronger than iron, Iob 20. 24. Vers. 36. thy right hand hath upheld me] or, [illegible: 1 letter]irmely stayed (and strengthened) me. This sentence is added here, more than in 2 Sam. 22. 36. thy meeknesse] or modestie, lenitie, humilitie, whereby thou abasest thy selfe to regard me, and deale meekly with me; even gently chastising and un[illegible: 2 letters]uring me. Wherefore the Greeke turneth it thus, thy chastisement hath rectified me. The Chaldee saith, and by thy word thou hast made me to increase. Vers. 37. hast widened my passage] or enlarged my pase, that is, given me roomth to walke steadily and safe. Contrary to that which is said of the wicked, that his strong (or violent) passages are straightned, (or made narrow) Iob 18. 7. Vers. 38. overtooke them] and consequently quelled, or cut them off, as is expressed 2 Sam. 22. 38. Vers. 39. I wounded them] or strucke thorow, embrewed with bloud. This verse in 2 Sam. 22. 39. is read thus; And I consumed them, and wounded them, and they rose not, but fell under my feet. Vers. 41. the necke of mine enemies] that is, put them to flight, and subdued them, 2 Chr. 29. 6. Ger. 49. 8. And this respecteth Gods promise, Exod. 23. 27. Vers. 42. They cried out] for an helper, as the Chaldee addeth. For this, in 2 Sam. 22. 42. is, They looked. answered] in Chaldee, they prayed to the Lord, and he received not their praier. Vers. 43. powre them out] or empty them, that is, tumble them downe, to be trodden as dirt; I spread them abroad; as in 2 Sam. 22. this verse is written, And I did beat them small as the dust of the earth: as the clay of the streets I pounded them, I spread them abroad. Vers. 44. of the people] in 2 Sam. 22. it is, the contentions of my people, hast kept me for the head, &c. and hereby Christs headship over the Church of the Gentiles is signified, and the contradiction of his owne people the Iewes, Rom. 10. 20, 21. See after in verse 50. Vers. 45. At the hearing of the eare] that is, speedily, so soone as they heare, without further adoe; or By the hearing of the eare, that is, with diligent hearkning and attendance. sonnes of the stranger] [illegible: 1 word] the [illegible: 2 letters]iant, or of alienation; that is, aliens, [illegible: 1 word], stranger[illegible: 1 letter] from the common-wealth of Israel, they and their progenitors. So Psal. 144. 7. Isa. 6[illegible: 1 letter]. 8. falsly deny] or dissemble. In the Greeke, they lie: [illegible: 1 word] meaning, they fainedly submit themselves, for feare or other sinister respect, against their wils. And this agreeth with the last promise of Moses, Deut. 33. 29. thy enemies shall falsely deny to thee. The originall word is used both for denying, Gen. 18. 15. and for lying or falsifying, 1 Kin. 13. 18. See after, Psal. 59. [illegible: 1 letter]3. and 66. 3. Vers. 46. fade away] or fall, to wit, as leaves of trees that wither. Vers. 47. my Rocke] in Greeke, my God. Vers. 48. that giveth vengeances to me] that is, giveth me power to be avenged of my foes; or, giveth vengeances for me, that is, avengeth and punisheth for my sake. Whereupon he is called the God of vengeances. Psal. 94. 1. So to give vengeance, is to execute it, Nū. 31. 3. subdueth] bringeth into good order and subjection, therefore in 2 Sam. 22. it is said, subjecteth or bringeth downe. And sometime this word signifieth a subduing by overthrow and destruction; as 2 Chron. 22. 10. she subdued: for which in 2 King. 11. 1. is written, she brought to perdition, or destroyed. Vers. 50. I will confesse thee] that is, give thee publike and solemne praise and thankes. This verse is applied in Rom. 15. 9. to the calling of the Gentiles unto the faith of Christ, and praise unto God therefore. By which we are taught, that of Christ and his kingdome this Psalme is chiefly intended. Vers. 51. He maketh great] or magnifieth; Hee is the magnifier of the salvations, that is, of the full salvation and deliverance. In stead of Magdil, that is, magnifier, in 2 Sam. 22. 51. there is Migdol, which is so written, as by the vowels signifieth a tower of salvations, and by the consonants a magnifier. Hereupon the Hebrew Doctors (in Midras tillin upon this place) say, One Scripture saith, MAGNIFIER, and another, saith. TOVVER: and what tower is made for them? The King Christ is as a tower, as it is said, the tower of salvations: it is also written, The name of the LORD [illegible: 1 word] a strong tower, &c. Prov. 18. 10. it [illegible: 1 word] anointed] or his Messias, his Christ, as [illegible: 1 word] in Psal. 2. 2. David and his seed] this may be referred both to the first Dividend his posteritie, on whom God shewed great mercie; and also to our Lord Christ, who is called by the Prophets, David, Ezek. 34. 23, 24. Hos. 3. 5. and his seed are his disciples, the children which God hath given him, Heb. 2. 13. or himselfe is the seed here mentioned, Act. 13. 23. Rom. 1. 3. as he also is called Abrahams seed, Gal. 3. 16.

PSAL. XVIII.

TO the chief Muſician] Some render it Adtriumphandum; and well they may; for this is old Davids [non-Latin text not transcribed], or triumphant ſong after ſo many victories and deliverances; and it is twice recorded in Scripture, with very little variation (See 2 Sam. 22.) for the great worth and weightineſſe of the matter; that wee may the more obſerve it, and bee the better verſed in it. This here recorded ſeemeth to bee the Review of it, and thence thoſe ſmall additions and alterations that are found here and there, but not of any great moment.

A Pſalm of David] Who having now gotten ſome breathing while from his troubles, gave not himſelf to Idleneſſe, or worldly pleaſures (as the Romans uſed to do after that they had once ridden in triumph) but calling to mind Gods great mercies towards him, compoſed this ſweet Pſalmodie to his glory.

The Servant of the Lord] So hee ſtiled himſelf before, Pſal. 36. when hee firſt entred upon the Kingdome; and now here again, when being to lay it down together with his life, hee breatheth out his holy ſoul to God in this divine ditty.

Sic ubi fata vocant, &c.

This hee did after that as a faithfull ſervant of the Lord hee had done all the wills of God, Act. 13.22, had ſerved out his full time, Verſe 36. and dwelt in Gods houſe to length of dayes, Pſal. 23.6.

Who ſpake unto the Lord the words of this ſong] God lets out his mercies to us for this rent of our praiſes; and is content wee have the benefit of them, ſo hee may have the glory. The Hebrews give this Note here; Every man for whom there is wrought a miracle of mercy, and hee thereupon uttereth a ſong, hath his ſins forgiven him. This is better yet than that of the Papiſts who promiſe pardon of ſin to thoſe that ſhall hear two Maſſes a day. Wee, who have received ſo many mercies, ſhould compaſs God about with ſongs of deliverances, and not only ſervire Deo, ſed & adulari, as Tertullian hath it.

From the hand of all his enemies] Heb, From the Palm, of other enemies as leſs conſiderable, but from the hand (or clutch-fiſt) of Saul.

And from the hand of Saul] his greateſt enemy, and of longeſt continuance. So Chriſt is ſaid to ſave his people from their ſins, by a ſpecialty, Mat. 1.21. becauſe theſe do us the moſt miſchief.

Verſ. 1. I will love thee, O Lord my ſtrength] Heb. I will love thee dearly and entirely, Ex intimis viſceribus, from the very heart root, from the bottom of my bowels; with like intention of affection, as a tender-hearted Mother doth her deareſt Babe, that is her own bowels, her ſelf of the ſecond edition. Neither did David herein ſuper-erogate; for God requireth to be loved with all the heart, minde, ſoul, ſtrength, Modus ſig ſi[illegible: 2 letters] modo. Be[illegible: 2 letters] as one that is beſt worthy; good without meaſure, that hath loved us without meaſure, and therefore is without meaſure by us to be beloved. Not that we are bound to love God in quantum eſt diligibilis, ſo much as he is lovely, or love-worthy; for ſo God only can love himſelf; but, Nihil ſupra, aequè, aut contra, Nothing muſt we love above God, or ſo much as God, much leſs againſt God: we muſt be able to ſay affectionately with David, Pſal. 73.25, 26. Whom have I in heaven but thee? there is none upon earth that I deſire beſides thee. And as Bernard, Amo te Domine, plus quam mea, meos, me, I love thee Lord, more than my goods, my friends, my ſelf. A Chriſtian begins with loving God for himſelf, but he ends in loving himſelf, and all other, both perſons, and things, in and for God. His friend he loveth in the Lord, his foes for the Lord: but God he loveth abſolutely, and for himſelf, affecting not only an union with him, but even an unity, his heart being turned, as it were, into a very lump of love, as was Maries, Luke 7.47. Hiſtories tell of a certain Woman that came to Veſpaſian the Emperour, profeſſing that ſhe was in love with him; he commanded that a liberal reward ſhould be given her for the ſame; and when his Steward asked him under what Item he ſhould put that gift in his Book of Account, Veſpaſiano adamato, ſaid the Emperour, Item, To her that loved Veſpaſian. God, ſaith the Apoſtle, is not unrighteous, to forget your labour of love, &c. Heb. 6. I love them that love me, ſaith Chriſt, Prov. 8. and his love is not like the Winter Sun, which hath light, but not heat, &c. he is the ſtrength of his people, their Rock, Fortreſs, &c.

Verſ. 2. The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortreſs, &c.] i.e. He is all in all for my preſervation. Ten words ſay the Hebrews, he here heapeth up in reference to Ten ſignal Victories; or rather becauſe his thankful heart was ſo enlarged, that hee could never ſatisfie himſelf in ſaying what God had been to him, and done for him: and hence this congeries, or heap of holy expreſſions; and all to ſhew that God is a Rock of refuge, a firm Fortreſs, a recepracle of reſt, a ſanctuary of ſafety to all his Saints in time of trouble. David had had his ſhare, and had been put to his ſhifts; glad to hide himſelf, as he could, in rocks, and ſtrong-holds that ſheltered him from the ſtorm. To theſe he alludeth, when he calls God his Rock, Fortreſs, &c.

And my deliverer] Rocks, and Strong-holds do not always deliver (witneſs the Shechemites, Jebuſites, Arimaſphes), but God always doth.

And the Horn of my Salvation] Qui veluti cornu petit & conficit hoſtes meos, ſaith Vatablus, who goareth and diſpatcheth mine enemies. A Metaphor either from horned Beaſts, or elſe (as ſome will have it) from the ancient cuſtom of wearing horns of Iron upon their Helmet, for a Creſt, or Military ornament: [illegible: 1 letter]whereupon the raiſed Horn was a ſign of Victory, and the Horn beaten down a ſign of being overcome.

Verſ. 3. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praiſed] Or, is the proper object of praiſes, becauſe he is good, and doth good, Pſal. 119.68. David vows to praiſe him,

1 By loving him entirely.

2 By truſting in him ſtedfaſtly, verſ. [illegible: 1 letter].

3. By calling upon him continually, here, and Pſal. 116.2, 3. which Pſalm is very like to this (in the beginning eſpecially) both for matter and method.

So ſhall I be ſaved, &c.] He had often proved the power of Prayer, ſpecially when he came ready prepared to praiſe God for the return of Prayer; and thence he is bold to promiſe himſelf all good.

Verſ. 4. The ſorrows of death compaſſed mee] Or, the pangs, pains, throws as of a travelling woman, theſe invironed mee, or came thick and threefold upon mee, perventebant uſ que ad [non-Latin text not transcribed] even to my face, (as the Rabbines deſcant upon the word) or flew upon me; deſperate and deadly dangers aſſailed mee. The worſt of an evill eſcaped, Medraſh. Tillin. Aphaphuni pro [illegible: 1 letter]naphaphuni. is to bee thankfully acknowledged, and higheſt ſtraines of eloquence therein to bee uſed, ſo that pride bee avoided, and the praiſe of God only aimed at.

And the floods of ungodly men] Heb. of Belial, that is, of Belialiſts, acted and agitated by the Devill; theſe came tumbling upon him like many and mighty waters, Fluct us flustum trudit. Torrentes Belial terrebant me.

Verſ. 5. The ſorrows] Or, throws or cords, ſuch as wherewith they bind malefactors led forth to execution.

The ſnares of death prevented mee] David knew how to make the moſt of a mercy; hee means, I was almoſt ſurprized, and all hope of help ſeemed to bee prevented; if help ſhould come, it would come too late.

Verſ. 6. In my diſtreſſe I called upon the Lord] This was Davids anchora ſacra; prayer hee knew could never come too late, nor God want a way to deliver his diſtreſſed. The time of affliction, is the time of ſupplication; and mans extremity is Gods opportunity.

And cryed unto my God] Hee grew more and more earneſt; wee muſt pray and not faint, Luk. 18.1. but riſe in our ſutes.

Out of his Temple] i.e. Heaven, where of the Temple was a type, as being the place of Gods ſpeciall preſence, and of tranſcendent holineſſe.

Verſ. 7. Then the earth ſhook and trembled, &c.] Upon Davids prayer all this befell; like as Act. 4. the houſe ſhook wherein they were praying; and the thundering Legion procured thunder and rain; and ſo did Samuel by his prayers, 1 Sam. 12. But this terrible tempeſt here deſcribed is to be taken rather allegorically than hiſtorically. The Prophet in moſt lofty and lively tearmes and expreſſions (farre above the ſtrain of the moſt ſublime either Poets or Oratours) deſcribeth Gods powerfull preſence and concurrence in Davids conqueſts.

The foundations alſo of the hills] That is, ſo vehement was the Earthquake, that it ſhook, as it were the roots of the Mountains, which lye deep within the ground, 2 Sam. 22.8. theſe hills are called the foundation of Heaven, as Job 26.11. the pillars of Heaven; becauſe the tops of high Mountains ſeem to touch the clouds, and the Heavens ſeem to lean upon them; and becauſe the Earth is in the centre of the World, about the which the Heavens do continually turn.

Becauſe he was wroth] Or, burn did his noſe. So

Verſ. 8. There went up a ſmoak out of his noſtrills] As angry men breath vehemently, and ſeem to ſpit fire by their bluſtering ſpeeches and menaces, ſo here [non-Latin text not transcribed] omnia, qua tamen [non-Latin text not transcribed] ſunt intelligenda.

Verſ. 7. Hee bowed the Heavens] i.e. velociter venit, ſaith R. David, hee came ſpeedily to deſtroy mine enemies.

And darkneſſe was under his feet] Hee came inviſible.

Verſ. 10. And he rode upon a Cherub] Which word hath affinity with Rechub a Charret; Hereby is noted Gods ſwiftneſſe in comming to ſuccour David. He waits to bee gracious; and when it is a fit ſeaſon hee comes leaping and skipping over the Mountaines of Bether or diviſion, all lets, and impediments; Gabriel came to Daniel with wearineſſe of flight, chap. 9.21.

Hee did flie upon the wings of the Wind] For, by the Miniſtry of Angells, God raiſeth and ſtilleth the winds.

Verſ. 11.Vatab. Hee made darkneſſe his ſecret place] As a King, that being angry, withdraweth himſelf from his ſubjects, and will not bee ſeen of them. Vel quia decret a Dei veniunt inviſibiliter, ſaid R. David.

Verſ. 12. At the brightneſſe that was before him, &c.] i.e. at his bright preſence, his thick clouds (wherein hee was inveloped) paſſed, or did cleave as it were in ſunder; whence came hailſtones mixed with coales of fire, or lightnings out of the cloudes which God maketh at once aery ſeas, and aery furnaces; fetching fire out of the midſt of water, and hard ſtones out of the midſt of thin vapours.

Verſ. 13. The Lord alſo thundred in the Heavens] Quaſi pro claſſico, & a[illegible: 1 letter]ſpicio praeli[illegible: 1 letter]ineund[illegible: 1 letter].

Verſ. 14. Yea hee ſent out his arrowes, &c.] Tandem permiſc entur omnia grandine flammis & fulminibus tanquam telis & ſagittis Dei adverſus hoſtes pugnantis. After the vaunt-curriers, verſ. 12. the great Ordinance, verſ. 13. the battel begins, and all is on an hurry.

Verſ. 15. Then the Chanels of waters were ſeen] The force of this terrible Tempeſt is further ſet forth by the effect of it, a dreadful concuſſion of the univerſe; not without an alluſion to the drying up of the red Sea, and of Jordan before Iſrael; which deliverances ſtood for Archetypes, or chief patterns to all Poſterity.

Verſ. 16. He ſent from above, he took me] He reſcued me as by an hand reacht me from Heaven. Deus [non-Latin text not transcribed]; or, he ſent his Angels to ſecure me.

He drew me out of many waters] As he had once done Moſes, Exod. 2.10. who there-hence alſo had his name. Muſaeus, for the ſame cauſe, calleth him [non-Latin text not transcribed] Water-ſprung.

Verſ. 17. He delivered me from my ſtrong enemy] Saul; this he oft inſtanceth, rolling it as Suger under his tongue, and turning aſide often to look upon it, as Sampſon did to ſee his dead Lion; fetching Hony out of it.

For they were too ſtrong for me] And then Gods help was moſt ſeaſonable, when David found himſelf over-matcht.

Verſ. 18. They prevented me, &c.] They took me on the ſudden, and unprovided. The Children of this World are wiſer, &c.

But the Lord was my ſtay] Or, my ſtaff, whereon I ſo leaned as that if he had failed me, I had been all along.

Verſ. 19. He bronght me forth alſo, &c.] He freed me out of all ſtraights, and ſtated me in a moſt happy condition.

He delivered, becauſe he delighted in me] All was of free grace and favour, not of any merit. And this he purpoſely premiſeth as a caution to the enſuing profeſſion of his innocency.

Verſ. 20. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteouſneſs] viz. The righteouſneſs of my Cauſe; and my freedom from ſuch crimes of diſloyalty, and ambition, wherewith mine enemies charged me, as if prickt on by my pride I ſought the Kingdom. As alſo, according to mine honeſt deſire and endeavour in all things elſe, [illegible: 1 letter]o keep a good Conſcience, voyd of offence toward God, and men. This, though Gods own work, and a debt moſt due to him, yet he is pleaſed graciouſly to reward.

Verſ. 21. For I have kept the ways of the Lord] For the main, and for the moſt part, though not without ſome particular ſtumblings and ſtartings aſide, againſt my general reſolution, and the tendency of mine heart.

And have not wickedly departed from my God] By an utter defection; I have not been transformed into Sins Image, by projecting ſin, by falling into it with full conſent, and by lying under the power of it. Non ex ſuperbia ſed errore, ſaith R. David here; not of preſumption have I offended, or with an high hand, but of infirmity, and with reluctancy; riſing up again by repentance, and renewing my Covenant.

Verſ. 22. For all his Judgements were before mee] Mine obedience (in deſire and indeavour at leaſt) was univerſall, extending to the compaſs of the whole Law; and this is a ſure ſign of ſincerity: Hence in the next words,

Verſ. 23. I was alſo upright before him] This he had becauſe he kept Gods Commandements, as Verſ. 22. had reſpect to them all, Pſal. 119.6. both to the Magnalia, and minutula legis, which he kept as the apple of his eye, Prov. 7.2. even all Gods Wills, Act. 13.22. and was therefore approved in Chriſt, as Apelles, Rom. 16.10. and paſſed for an Iſraelite indeed, in whom was no guile, as Nathaniel, Joh. 1.47.

And I kept my ſelf from mine iniquity] i.e. from my peccatum in delic[illegible: 1 letter]is, my darling ſin, whereto I am either by Nature or Cuſtom moſt inclined and addicted. From the iniquity of my heart and ſecret thoughts, which no man can charge me with, ſaith Aben-Ezra; from that ſin of diſloyalty,R. David. which Saul and his Courtiers falſly charge me with, Say others.

Verſ. 24. Therefore hath the Lord recompenſed me] See on verſ. 20. Reward and Mercy are joyned together in the Second Commandement; and Pſal. 62.12. it is a mercy in God to reward a man according to his work.

According to the cleaneneſs of my hands in his eye ſight] i.e. which he hath beheld in me;Qua illo judice praeditus dum. Vatab. though mine enemies were of another judgement.

Ver. 25 With the mercifull, &c.] Hypotheſin hic ad theſin transfert; it is as if the ſhould ſay, I and mine enemies are a pattern of thy Truth and Juſtice, that thou wilt do good to thoſe that are good, and to them that are upright in their hearts. As for ſuch as turn aſide unto their crooked paths, thou Lord ſhalt lead them forth with the workers of iniquity, Pſal. 125.4, 5.

Verſ. 26. With the pure, &c.] Cum candido candide agere ſoles. The pure ſhall have all that heart can with.

And with the froward thou wilt ſhew thy ſelf froward] Or, thou wilt wraſtle, viz. with ſuch croſs peices, as proudly and perverſly erre from thy precepts; as it were on purpoſe to thwart thee, or to try Maſteries with thee. Againſt ſuch ſtubborn perſons God threatneth not eight degrees (which are the higheſt Notes in Muſick, and degrees in qualities, as the Philoſopher diſtinguiſheth them) but twenty and eight degrees of wrath, Levit. 26.18, 21, 24, 28. Exiget ab [illegible: 1 letter]is rationem minutiſſimorum, ſaith R. Obad. Gaon upon this Text; he will reckon with them for their leaſt offences, and not bate them an Ace of their due puniſhment. He will pay them home in their own coyn, over-ſhoot them in their own Bow, fill them with their own ways, be as croſs as they are, for the hearts of them; yet ſtill in a way of Juſtice, though he break the necks of them in wraſtling, and ſend them packing to their place in Hell. Ainſworth rendreth it, With the froward thou wilt ſhew thy ſelf wry. It is a Similitude taken from Wraſtlers, and noteth a writhing of ones ſelf againſt an adverſary. Compare herewith Deut. 32.5. They are a perverſe and crooked Generation (the ſame two words that are here in this Text) the latter importeth, that they wriggled and writhed after the manner of Wra[illegible: 2 letters]lers that wave up and down▪ and wind the other way, when one thinks to have them here or there. But all will not ſerve their turn to ſave them from puniſhment. God will be ſure to meet with them, his Word will lay hold on them, and their ſin ſhall finde them out.

Verſ. 27. For thou wilt ſave the afflicted people] Even the ſame whom before he had called Merciful, or godly, upright, pure, here are the Afflicted, and ſeem by God to be neglected; but he will ſave them aſſuredly though he bear long with them, Luk. 18.7.

But will bring down high looks] In Samuel it is, Thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou maiſt bring them down, 2 Sam. 22.28. q.d. Gods eyes are upon them all the while that he ſpareth them, to watch for a fit ſeaſon to ruine them.

Verſ. 28. For thou wilt light my Candle] Or, Thou haſt lighted my Candle (that is, thou haſt bettered my condition) which ſeemed to be put out in obſcurity. The wicked mans is, Job 18 6. & 21.17. Prov. 13.9.

The Lord my God will enlighten my darkneſs] He hath, and yet ſtill will turn my grief into joy, as Heſt. 8.19. and mean while direct and comfort me in mine Afflictions; as a Candle is a great comfort in the dark, though it doth not make Day where it comes, as the Sun doth.

Verſ. 29. For by thee have I run thorow a Troop] Though but a little man, yet by Gods help heatchieved great matters, did great exploits. Homo tricubitalis (ſaith a Father concerning Paul) Et coelum aſcendit: ſo here. Some render it, Currebam accinctus, Bucholc. I ran well appointed; and they interpret it of his Victory over Goliah, whom he ran upon and cut off his head, after that he had hurled at him with as good a force; Perinde ac ſi fundae ſustunicis non lapillum, ſed Deum ipſumin[illegible: 1 letter]uiſſet ac implicuiſſet, ſaith one; as if he had got not a ſtone, but God himſelf into the bought of his ſling.

And by my God have I leapt over a wall] That is, I have ſtormed a walled Town, or Fort, with very little ado; being no leſs valiant and venturous than Alexander the Great was among the Indians; but upon farre better grounds, becauſe in the ſtrength of God,2 Sam. 3. as at the Fort of Zion.

Verſ. 30. As for God, his way is perfect] All his Diſpenſations toward his Children, his actions, and directions, his providences, and promiſes are moſt truſty and true; having neither vice, vanity, inſincerity, nor deceit in them.

The Word of the Lord is tried] This is a famous ſentence, and was much in the mouthes of Gods people, See Prov. 30.5. with the Note there.

Verſ. 31. For who is God ſave the Lord] Fictitios Deos & vanas ſpes proſternit, ſaith Vatablus; Here he ſtriketh down to the ground all falſe gods, and all vain hopes. Contemno minutulos iſtos Deosmodo Jovem mihi propitium habeam, ſaid an Heathen. David might much better ſay, I care not for thoſe petty Deities, ſo I may have Jehovah to favour me.

Verſ. 32. It is God that girdeth mee with ſtrength] It is a Metaphor, ſaith Vataeblus, either from a Souldiers belt which buckleth his armour cloſe to him, and maketh him more ſteddy; or elſe from the reines themſelves, in which the Scripture ſometimes placeth ſtrength and vigour. God did all for David; and hath here the glory of all his valour and victories.

And maketh my way perfect] i.e. Compleateth and proſpereth all my deſigns and enterpriſes. For want hereof many attempt much, but effect little or nothing. Antiochus King of Syria was called Magnus for undertaking much, and performing little. Guicciard[illegible: 1 letter]n ſaith of Charles the eighth, in his expedition to Naples, that he came into the field like thunder and lightning, but went out like a ſnuffe; more than a man at firſt, and leſſe than a woman at laſt.

Verſ. 33. Hee maketh my feet like Hindes feet] Heb. Hee matcheth my feet, like Hindes feet; that is, not only ſwift, if I have occaſion by flight to provide for my ſelf, or to purſue mine enemies flying before mee; but alſo ſteddy if I come into any dangerous places. Aſahel was ſwift of foot as a wild Roe, 2 Sam. 2.18. Joſephus faith of him, that hee contended with horſes in running. Saul and Jonathan are ſaid to be ſwifter than Eagles, 2 Sam. 1.23. Achilles was [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaith Homer, The Hind, when purſued by the woolf, runs moſt ſwiftly; witneſſe the Poet, Quem tu, cervus uti vallis in altera Viſum parte lupum, graminis immemor, Horat. lib. 1. Od. 1[illegible: 1 letter] lib. 1. Od. 23. ſublimi fugies mollis anhelitu. Vit as hinnuleo me ſimilis, Chloe, &c.

And gain,

But they that wait upon the Lord have a promiſe that they ſhall not only nin as Hindes, but mount up as Eagles; they ſhall run and not bee weary, and they ſhall walk and not faint, Iſa. 40.31.

Hee ſetteth mee upon my high places] Where, having by flight or fight eſcaped,Securus poſt quam Eva[illegible: 2 letters] a illis. R. David I am ſecured; yea hee hath advanced me, and brought me to this high honour.

Verſ. 34. Hee teacheth mine hands to warre] David aſcribeth all his military skill and ſucceſſe to God, ſo did not other great Warriors, Alexander, Scipio, Fabius, &c. but ſacrificed to their own nets, and were ready to ſay as Seſoſtris King of Aegypt did, when hee had conquered any Country, hee was wont to ſet up pillars with theſe words ingraven upon them, This Country I got by mine own ſtrength and vallour. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Herodot. 1.[illegible: 1 letter]

So that a bow of ſteel, &c] Which is more flexible and ſtronger than a bow of Iron; whence is that. Job 20.24.

Verſ. 35. Thou haſt alſo given mee, &c.] i.e. Thou haſt preſerved and ſetled me. See the Note on Pſal. 5.12.

And thy gentleneſſe bath made mee great] Or, Thy meekneſſe hath multiplied mee, i.e. Thou haſt ſo farr ſtooped to my meanneſſe, as to advance mee to this heighth of honour. Or, by thy humbling mee, thou haſt magnified mee, according to 1 Pet. 5.6. & Prov. 15.33.

Verſ. 36. Thou haſt enlarged my ſteps under mee] Or, Thou haſt widened my paſſage, and made roomth for mee; when the wicked mans ſtrong paſſages are ſtreightened, Job 18.7. his paſe impeded.

And my feet did not ſlip] Heb. Mine anckles, or my heeles, Sep. my footſteps.

Verſ. 37. I have purſued mine enemies, and overtaken them, &c.] Of David we may ſay, as one did of Julius Caeſar, you may perceive him to have been an excellent ſouldier by his very language; for hee wrote with the ſame ſpirit hee fought.1.10 ad filiu[illegible: 1 letter] In eo tanta vis, id acumen, ea concitatio, (ſaith Quintilian concerning Caeſars Commentaries) ut illum eodem animo dixiſſe appareat quo bellavit.

Verſ. 38. I have wounded them that they were not able to riſe] Much leſſe to reſiſt. And herein hee was a type of Chriſt; all whoſe foes ſhall bee his footſtool, Pſal. 110.1.

Verſ. 39. Thou baſt girded mee with ſtrength, &c.] See verſ. 32. It is God that weakeneth or ſtrengtheneth either party, Ezek. 30.24. and rendreth their weapons vain or proſperous. Iſa. 54. ult. Jer. 50.9.

Thou haſt ſubdued under me, &c.] David aſcribeth all to God, and uſeth wonderfull variety of expreſſions in ſetting forth his benefits.

Verſ. 40. Thou haſt given mee the necks of mine enemies] ſc: to chop them off at my pleaſure; or to cut the throats.

Verſ. 41. They cryed] Through grief and impatiency, clamore incondito, as beaſts when in durance, fill the air with loud out-cryes.

Even unto the Lord] As nature prompteth men in an extremity to look up for help; but becauſe it is but the prayer of the fleſh for eaſe, and not of the Spirit for grace, and a good uſe of calamities, and not but in extreme deſpaire of help elſewhere, therefore God hears them not. In Samuel it is, They looked, but there was none to ſave them, q. d. If they could have made any other ſhift, God ſhould never have heard of them. Therefore Sero, inquit Nero.

Verſ. 42. Then did I beat them as ſmall as the duſt] When God once withdraws his protection and help from a people, it is an eaſie matter to tread them down and beat them in pieces, Lay hold upon him therefore as the Church did, and hang on. Say as Jer. 14.21. Do not abhorre us for thy names ſake; for as Bodin ſaid well of obtaining, ſo for retaining religion and civil rights, Non disputationibus, ſed rogationibus agendum, prayer is moſt prevalent. If once our ſhaddow depart, &c. woe bee unto them when I depart from them.

I did caſt them out, &c.] Evacuabameos, I dealt by them, as men do by the ſweepings of the houſe, or noyſome excrements. God ſometimes dungeth his Vineyard with the dead bodies of his enemies.

Verſ. 43. Thou haſt delivered mee from the ſtrivings of the people] viz. In the rebellions under Abſolom, and Sheba the ſon of Bichri. Theſe, like bubbles which Children blow up into the air, were ſoon blown out; and fell into the eyes of thoſe who with the blaſts of diſloyalty and ambition held up the ſame.

Thou haſt made mee head of the Heathen] Philiſtines, Syrians, Anamonites, &c. This is moſt true of Chriſt. Head of his Church, which conſiſteth of all Nations, and moſt of theſe were unknown unto him as man; and by hearing of him, they were brought to ſubmit unto him, when the Apoſtles came and preached him amongſt them. Hence it followeth,

Verſ. 44. Aſſoon as they hear of mee] Heb. at the hearing of the ear; that is, by the preaching of the Goſpell they ſhall bee brought to yeeld the obedience of faith.

The ſtrangers ſhall ſubmit] Heb.Subjectio ſucoſa & Hypoc[illegible: 1 letter]itica. Falſly deny or diſſemble with mee; their ſubmiſſion is forced and feigned, they dare do no leſſe; they receive my yoke, but their hearts I have not. Chriſt hath many ſuch falſe-hearted ſubjects, fawning and faining profligate profeſſors, carnal Goſpellers, &.

Verſ. 45. The ſtrangers ſhall fade away] As do the dry leaves of Trees; their vigour and confidence ſhall periſh in a moment.

And bee afraid out of their cloſe places] Whence they ſhall come creeping to mee their conqueror, to ſeek favour. And this may very fitly alſo be applied to Chriſt and his ſubjects, who muſt bee driven unto him out of their cloſe places, or ſtarting holes of ſelf-confidences, ſelf-conceitedneſſe, &c. by the ſpirit of bondage, before they will unfeignedly ſubmit to Chriſts Government.

Verſ. 46. The Lord liveth] Or, Vivat Dominus, Let the Lord live. It is ſpoken, ſaith Calvin, after the manner of men, who uſe ſuch kind of acclamations to the Kings, whom they love and honour. The Wicked could wiſh God extinct, that ſo they might never come to an account before him; but the Saints cry out, Let the Lord live, let Chriſt reign, &c. Bleſſed bee God that Hoe is God, was a learned mans motto. Luthers was, Vivit, ſc. Chriſtus. Si non viveret, vellem me non unam horam vivere, &c. Chriſt is alive, otherwiſe I would not wiſh to live an hour. Another good man ſaith,Miconius. Chriſt liveth and raigneth, alioque totus totus deſperaſſem, otherwiſe I ſhould be utterly out of hope.

Let the God of my ſalvation bee exalted] Triumphali elogio ab omnibus celebratur, let him bee ſet up in all hearts and houſes,

Verſ. 47. It is God that avengeth mee] Heb. that giveth vengeances for mee, whence alſo hee is called the God of vengeances, Pſal. 94.1. and the God of recompences, Jer. 51.56.

And ſubdueth the people under me] It is the great work of God, to perſwade the hearts of ſo many millions to obey one man.

Verſ. 48. He delivereth me from mine enemies] This David hath never done with, but goeth over it again and again, as deſirous to do the Lord all the right that might be.

From the violent man] That is, from Saul, ſaith R. David, and him he mentioneth laſt, Quia erat principium omnis Davidicae gloriae, becauſe the fall of his houſe was the riſe of all Davids glory. The Chaldee hath it, From Gog, and his Armies.

Verſ. 49. Therefore I will give thanks, &c.] See how the Pſalmiſt in theſe three laſt Verſes endeth as he began.

Among the Heathen] This the Apoſtle applieth to Chriſt and his people, as a Prophecy of his Kingdom, and of the calling of the Gentiles, Rom. 15.9. I, that is, Chriſt, (but yet in the perſon of his faithful, and eſpecially his Miniſters) will praiſe thee, or confeſs unto thee, &c.

And ſing praiſes unto thy name] Which to have done abſurdum fuiſſet apud ſurdo[illegible: 1 letter], would have been abſurd, had not thoſe Heathens had their ears opened.

Verſ. 50. Great deliverance giveth be to his King] In Samuel it is, He is the tower of Salvation for his King] This Tower is Meſſias, ſay the Jew-Doctors, Quieſt turris ſalutis. O that thoſe poor Creatures would once run to that ſtrong tower and be ſafe.

To David and to his ſeed for evermore] That is, to Chriſt (who was made of the Seed of David, according to the fleſh, Rom. 1.3. Act. 13.23.) and to all faithful Chriſtians who are called Chriſts Seed, Iſa. 53.10. and Pſal. 72.17. Filiabitur nomine ejus, the Name of Chriſt ſhall endure for ever, it ſhall be begotten as one Generation is begotten of another, there ſhall be a ſucceſſion of it to the Worlds end.

"I will love thee, O Lord." With strong, hearty affection will I cling to thee; as a child to its parent, or a spouse to her husband. The word is intensely forcible, the love is of the deepest kind. "I will love heartily, with my inmost bowels." Here is a fixed resolution to abide in the nearest and most intimate union with the Most High. Our triune God deserves the warmest love of all our hearts. Father, Son and Spirit have each a claim upon our love. The solemn purpose never to cease loving naturally springs from present fervour of affection. It is wrong to make rash resolutions, but this when made in the strength of God is most wise and fitting. "My strength." Our God is the strength of our life, our graces, our works, our hopes, our conflicts, our victories. This verse is not found in 2 Samuel 22, and is a most precious addition, placed above all and after all to form the pinnacle of the temple, the apex of the pyramid. Love is still the crowning grace.

"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 he 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 of trouble. The clefts of the Rock of Ages are safe abodes. "My deliverer," interposing in my hour of peril. When almost captured the Lord's people are rescued from the hand of the mighty by him who is mightier still. This title of "deliverer" has many sermons in it, and is well worthy of the study of all experienced saints. "My God;" this is all good things in one. There is a boundless wealth in this expression; it means, my perpetual, unchanging, infinite, eternal good. He who can say truly "my God," may well add, "my heaven, my all." "My strength;" this word is really "my rock," in the sense of strength and immobility. My sure, unchanging, eternal confidence and support. Thus the word rock occurs twice, but it is no tautology, for the first time it is a rock for concealment, but here a rock for firmness and immutability. "In whom I will trust." Faith must be exercised, or the preciousness of God is not truly known; and God must be the object of faith, or faith is mere presumption. "My buckler," warding off the blows of my enemy, shielding me from arrow or sword. The Lord furnishes his warriors with weapons both offensive and defensive. Our armoury is completely stored so that none need go to battle unarmed. "The horn of my salvation," enabling me to push down my foes, and to triumph over them with holy exultation. "My high tower," a citadel high planted on a rocky eminence beyond the reach of my enemies, from the heights of which I look down upon their fury without alarm, and survey a wide landscape of mercy reaching even unto the goodly land beyond Jordan. Here are many words, but none too many; we might profitably examine each one of them had we leisure, but summing up the whole, we may conclude with Calvin, that David here equips the faithful from head to foot.

In this verse the happy poet resolves to invoke the Lord in joyful song, believing that in all future conflicts his God would deal as well with him as in the past. It is well to pray to God as to one who deserves to be praised, for then we plead in a happy and confident manner. If I feel that I can and do bless the Lord for all his past goodness, I am bold to ask great things of him. That word So has much in it. To be saved singing is to be saved indeed. Many are saved mourning and doubting; but David had such faith that he could fight singing, and win the battle with a song still upon his lips. How happy a thing to receive fresh mercy with a heart already sensible of mercy enjoyed, and to anticipate new trials with a confidence based upon past experiences of divine love!

"No fearing or doubting with Christ on our side,

We hope to die shouting, 'The Lord will provide.'"

In most poetical language the Psalmist now describes his experience of Jehovah's delivering power. Poesy has in all her treasures no gem more lustrous than the sonnet of the following verses; the sorrow, the cry, the descent of the Divine One, and the rescue of the afflicted, are here set to a music worthy of the golden harps. The Messiah our Saviour is evidently, 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 here has its deepest and profoundest fulfilment in Him; but as we are desirous not to extend our comment beyond moderate bounds, we must leave it with the devout reader to make the very easy application of the passage to our once distressed but now triumphant Lord.

"The sorrows of death compassed me." Death like a cruel conqueror seemed to twist round about him the cords of pain. He was environed and hemmed in with threatening deaths of the most appalling sort. He was like a mariner broken by the storm and driven upon the rocks by dreadful breakers, white as the teeth of death. Sad plight for the man after God's own heart, but thus it is that Jehovah dealeth with his sons. "The floods of ungodly men made me afraid." Torrents of ungodliness threatened to swamp all religion, and to hurry away the godly man's hope as a thing to be scorned and despised; so far was this threat fulfilled, that even the hero who slew Goliath began to be afraid. The most seaworthy bark is sometimes hard put to it when the storm fiend is abroad. The most courageous man, who as a rule hopes for the best, may sometimes fear the worst. Beloved reader, he who pens these lines has known better than most men what this verse means, and feels inclined to weep, and yet to sing, while he writes upon a text so descriptive of his own experience. On the night of the lamentable accident at the Surrey Music Hall, the floods of Belial were let loose, and the subsequent remarks of a large portion of the press were exceedingly malicious and wicked; our soul was afraid as we stood encompassed with the sorrows of death and the blasphemies of the cruel. But oh, what mercy was there in it all, and what honey of goodness was extracted by our Lord out of this lion of affliction! Surely God hath heard me! Art thou in an ill plight? Dear friend, learn thou from our experience to trust in the Lord Jehovah, who forsaketh not his chosen.

"The sorrows of hell compassed me about." From all sides the hell-hounds barked furiously. A cordon of devils hemmed in the hunted man of God; every way of escape was closed up. Satan knows how to blockade our coasts with the iron war-ships of sorrow, but, blessed be God, the port of all prayer is still open, and grace can run the blockade bearing messages from earth to heaven, and blessings in return from heaven to earth. "The snares of death prevented me." The old enemy hunts for his prey, not only with the dogs of the infernal kennel, but also with the snares of deadly craft. The nets were drawn closer and closer until the contracted circle completely prevented the escape of the captive:

"About me the cords of hell were wound,

And snares of death my footsteps bound."

Thus hopeless was the case of this good man, as hopeless as a case could be, so utterly desperate that none but an almighty arm could be of any service. According to the four metaphors which he employs, he was bound like a malefactor for execution; overwhelmed like a shipwrecked mariner; surrounded and standing at bay like a hunted stag; and captured in a net like a trembling bird. What more of terror and distress could meet upon one poor defenseless head?

"In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God." Prayer is that postern gate which is left open even when the city is straitly besieged by the enemy; it is that way upward from the pit of despair to which the spiritual miner flies at once when the floods from beneath break forth upon him. 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. Above the noise of the raging billows of death, or the barking dogs of hell, the feeblest cry of a true believer will be heard in heaven. "He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears." Far up within the bejewelled walls, and through the gates of pearl, the cry of the suffering suppliant was heard. Music of angels and harmony of seraphs availed not to drown or even to impair the voice of that humble call. The king heard it in his palace of light unsufferable, and lent a willing ear to the cry of his own beloved child. O honoured prayer, to be able thus through Jesus' blood to penetrate the very ears and heart of Deity. The voice and the cry are themselves heard directly by the Lord, and not made to pass through the medium of saints and intercessors; "My cry came before Him;" the operation of prayer with God is immediate and personal. We may cry with confident and familiar importunity, while our Father himself listens.

There was no great space between the cry and its answer. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, but is swift to rescue his afflicted. David has in his mind's eye the glorious manifestations of God in Egypt, at Sinai, and on different occasions to Joshua and the judges; and he considers that his own case exhibits the same glory of power and goodness, and that, therefore, he may accommodate the descriptions of former displays of the divine majesty into his hymn of praise. "Then the earth shook and trembled." Observe how the most solid and immovable things feel the force of supplication. Prayer has shaken houses, opened prison doors, and made stout hearts to quail. Prayer rings the alarm bell, and the Master of the house arises to the rescue, shaking all things beneath his tread. "The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because of his wrath." He who fixed the world's pillars can make them rock in their sockets, and can upheave the corner-stones of creation. The huge roots of the towering mountains are torn up when the Lord bestirs himself in anger to smite the enemies of his people. How shall puny man be able to face it out with God when the very mountains quake with fear? Let not the boaster dream that his present false confidence will support him in the dread day of wrath.

"There went up a smoke out of his nostrils." A violent oriental method of expressing fierce wrath. Since the breath from the nostrils is heated by strong emotion, the figure portrays the Almighty Deliverer as pouring forth smoke in the heat of his wrath and the impetuousness of his zeal. Nothing makes God so angry as an injury done to his children. He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye. God is not subject to the passions which govern his creatures, but acting as he does with all the energy and speed of one who is angry, he is here aptly set forth in poetic imagery suitable to human understandings. The opening of his lips is sufficient to destroy his enemies; "and fire out of his mouth devoured." This fire was no temporary one but steady and lasting; "Coals were kindled by it." The whole passage is intended to depict God's descent to the help of his child, attended by earthquake and tempest: at the majesty of his appearing the earth rocks, the clouds gather like smoke, and the lightning as flaming fire devours, setting the world on a blaze. What grandeur of description is here! Bishop Mant very admirably rhymes the verse thus: —

"Smoke from his heated nostrils came,

And from his mouth devouring flame;

Hot burning coals announced his ire,

And flashes of careering fire."

Amid the terror of the storm Jehovah the Avenger descended, bending beneath his foot the arch of heaven. ""He bowed the heavens also, and came down." He came in haste, and spurned everything which impeded his rapidity. The thickest gloom concealed his splendour, "and darkness was under his feet;" he fought within the dense vapours, as a warrior in clouds of smoke and dust, and found out the hearts of his enemies with the sharp falchion of his vengeance. Darkness is no impediment to God; its densest gloom he makes his tent and secret pavilion. See how prayer moves earth and heaven, and raises storms to overthrow in a moment the foes of God's Israel. Things were bad for David before he prayed, but they were much worse for his foes so soon as the petition had gone up to heaven. A trustful heart, by enlisting the divine aid, turns the tables on its enemies. If I must have an enemy let him not be a man of prayer, or he will soon get the better of me by calling in his God into the quarrel.

There is inimitable grandeur in this verse. Under the Mosaic system the cherubim are frequently represented as the chariot of God; hence Milton, in "Paradise Lost," writes of the Great Father, —

"He on the wings of cherubim

Uplifted, in paternal glory rode

Far into chaos."

Without speculating upon the mysterious and much-disputed subject of the cherubim, it may be enough to remark that angels are doubtless our guards and ministering friends, and all their powers are enlisted to expedite the rescue of the afflicted. "He rode upon a cherub, and did fly." Nature also yields all her agents to be our helpers, and even the powers of the air are subservient: "yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." The Lord comes flying when mercy is his errand, but he lingers long when sinners are being wooed to repent. The flight here pictured is as majestic as it is swift; "flying all abroad" is Sternhold's word, and he is not far from correct. As the eagle soars in easy grandeur with wings outspread, without violent flapping and exertion, so comes the Lord with majesty of omnipotence to aid his own.

The storm thickened, and the clouds pouring forth torrents of rain combined to form the secret chamber of the invisible but wonder-working God. "Pavilioned in impervious shade" faith saw him, but no other eye could gaze through the "thick clouds of the skies." Blessed is the darkness which encurtains my God; if I may not see him, it is sweet to know that he is working in secret for my eternal good. Even fools can believe that God is abroad in the sunshine and the calm, but faith is wise, and discerns him in the terrible darkness and threatening storm.

Suddenly the terrible artillery of heaven was discharged; the brightness of lightning lit up the clouds as with a glory proceeding from him who was concealed within the cloudy pavilion; and volleys of hailstones and coals of fire were hurled forth upon the enemy. The lightnings seemed to cleave the clouds and kindle them into a blaze, and then hailstones and flakes of fire with flashes of terrific grandeur terrified the sons of men.

Over all this splendour of tempest pealed the dread thunder. "The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice." Fit accompaniment for the flames of vengeance. How will men bear to hear it at the last when addressed to them in proclamation of their doom, for even now their hearts are in their mouths if they do but hear it muttering from afar? In all this terror David found a theme for song, and thus every believer finds even in the terrors of God a subject for holy praise. "Hailstones and coals of fire" are twice mentioned to show how certainly they are in the divine hand, and are the weapons of Heaven's vengeance. Horne remarks that "every thunderstorm should remind us of that exhibition of power and vengeance, which is hereafter to accompany the general resurrection;" may it not also assure us of the real power of him who is our Father and our friend, and tend to assure us of our safety while he fights our battles for us. The prince of the power of the air is soon dislodged when the cherubic chariot is driven through his dominions; therefore let not the legions of hell cause us dismay. He who is with us is greater than all they that be against us.

The lightnings were darted forth as forked arrows upon the hosts of the foe, and speedily "scattered them." Boastful sinners prove to be great cowards when Jehovah enters the lists with them. They despise his words, and are very tongue-valiant, but when it comes to blows they fly apace. The glittering flames, and the fierce bolts of fire "discomfited them." God is never at a loss for weapons. Woe be unto him that contendeth with his Maker! God's arrows never miss their aim; they are feathered with lightning, and barbed with everlasting death. Fly, O sinner, to the rock of refuge before these arrows stick fast in thy soul.

So tremendous was the shock of God's assault in arms that the order of nature was changed, and the bottoms of rivers and seas were laid bare. "The channels of waters was seen;" and the deep cavernous bowels of the earth were upheaved till "the foundations of the world were discovered." What will not Jehovah's "rebuke" do? If "the blast of the breath of thy nostrils," O Lord, be so terrible, what must thine arm be? Vain are the attempts of men to conceal anything from him whose word unbars the deep, and lifts the doors of earth from their hinges! Vain are all hopes of resistance, for a whisper of his voice makes the whole earth quail in abject terror.

Now comes the rescue. The Author is divine, "He sent;" the work is heavenly, "from above;" the deliverance is marvellous, "He drew me out of many waters." Here David was like another Moses, drawn from the water; and thus are all believers like their Lord, whose baptism in many waters of agony and in his own blood has redeemed us from the wrath to come. Torrents of evil shall not drown the man whose God sitteth upon the floods to restrain their fury.

When we have been rescued, we must take care to ascribe all the glory to God by confessing our own weakness, and remembering the power of the conquered enemy. God's power derives honour from all the incidents of the conflict. Our great spiritual adversary is a "strong enemy" indeed, much too strong for poor, weak creatures like ourselves, but we have been delivered hitherto and shall be even to the end. Our weakness is a reason for divine help; mark the force of the "for" in the text.

It was an ill day, a day of calamity, of which evil foes took cruel advantage, while they used crafty means uterly to ruin him, yet David could say, "but the Lord is my stay." What a blessed but which cuts the Gordian knot, and slays the hundred-headed hydra! There is no fear of deliverance when our stay is in Jehovah.

"He brought me forth also into a large place." After pining awhile in the prison-house Joseph reached the palace, and from the cave of Adullam David mounted to the throne. Sweet is pleasure after pain. Enlargement is the more delightful after a season of pinching poverty and sorrowful confinement. Besieged souls delight in the broad fields of the promise when God drives off the enemy and sets open the gates of the environed city. The Lord does not leave his work half done, for having routed the foe he leads out the captive into liberty. Large indeed is the possession and place of the believer in Jesus, there need be no limit to his peace, for there is no bound to his privilege. "He delivered me, because he delighted in me." Free grace lies at the foundation. Rest assured, if we go deep enough, sovereign grace is the truth which lies at the bottom of every well of mercy. Deep sea fisheries in the ocean of divine bounty always bring the pearls of electing, discriminating love to light. Why Jehovah should delight in us is an answerless question, and a mystery which angels cannot solve; but that he does delight in his beloved is certain, and is the fruitful root of favours as numerous as they are precious. Believer, sit down, and inwardly digest the instructive sentence now before us, and learn to view the uncaused love of God as the cause of all the lovingkindness of which we are the partakers.

"The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness." Viewing this psalm as prophetical of the Messiah, these strongly-expressed claims to righteousness are readily understood, for his garments were as white as snow; but considered as the language of David they have perplexed many. Yet the case is clear, and if the words be not strained beyond their original intention, no difficulty need occur. 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. David's early troubles arose from the wicked malice of envious Saul, who no doubt prosecuted his persecutions under cover of charges brought against the character of "the man after God's own heart." These charges David declares to have been utterly false, and asserts that he possessed a grace-given righteousness which the Lord had graciously rewarded in defiance of all his calumniators. Before God the man after God's own heart was a humble sinner, but before his slanderers he could with unblushing face speak of the "cleanness of his hands" and the righteousness of his life. He knows little of the sanctifying power of divine grace who is not at the bar of human equity able to plead innocence. There is no self-righteousness in an honest man knowing that he is honest, nor even in his believing that God rewards him in providence because of his honesty, for such is often a most evident matter of fact; but it would be self-righteousness indeed if we transferred such thoughts from the region of providential government into the spiritual kingdom, for there grace reigns not only supreme but sole in the distribution of divine favours. It is not at all an opposition to the doctrine of salvation by grace, and no sort of evidence of a Pharisaic spirit, when a gracious man, having been slandered, stoutly maintains his integrity, and vigorously defends his character. A godly man has a clear conscience, and knows himself to be upright; is he to deny his own consciousness, and to despise the work of the Holy Ghost, by hypocritically making himself out to be worse than he is? A godly man prizes his integrity very highly, or else he would not be a godly man at all; is he to be called proud because he will not readily lose the jewel of a reputable character? A godly man can see that in divine providence uprightness and truth are in the long run sure to bring their own reward; may he not, when he sees that reward bestowed in his own case, praise the Lord for it? Yea rather, must he not show forth the faithfulness and goodness of his God? Read the cluster of expressions in this and the following verses as the song of a good conscience, after having safely outridden a storm of obloquy, persecution, and abuse, and there will be no fear of our upbraiding the writer as one who sets too high a price upon his own moral character.

Here the assertion of purity is repeated, both in a positive and a negative form. There is "I have" and "I have not," both of which must be blended in a truly sanctified life; constraining and restraining grace must each take its share. The words of this verse refer to the saint as a traveler carefully keeping to "the ways of the Lord," and "not wickedly," that is, designedly, wilfully, persistently, defiantly forsaking the ordained pathway in which God favours the pilgrim with his presence. Observe how it is implied in the expression, "and have not wickedly departed from my God," that David lived habitually in communion with God, and knew him to be his own God, whom he might speak of as "my God." God never departs from his people, let them take heed of departing from him.

"For all his judgments were before me." The word, the character, and the actions of God should be evermore before our eyes; we should learn, consider, and reverence them. Men forget what they do not wish to remember, but the excellent attributes of the Most High are objects of the believer's affectionate and delighted admiration. We should keep the image of God so constantly before us that we become in our measure conformed unto it. This inner love to the right must be the main spring of Christian integrity in our public walk. The fountain must be filled with love to holiness, and then the streams which issue from it will be pure and gracious. "I did not put away his statutes from me." To put away the Scriptures from the mind's study is the certain way to prevent their influencing the outward conversation. Backsliders begin with dusty Bibles, and go on to filthy garments.

"I was also upright before him." 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 his God. Moreover, freedom from his one great besetting sin he ventures also to plead, "I kept myself from mine iniquity." It is a very gracious sign when the most violent parts of our nature have been well guarded. If the weakest link in the chain is not broken, the stronger links will be safe enough. David's impetuous temper might have led him to slay Saul when he had him within his power, but grace enabled him to keep his hands clean of the blood of his enemy; but what a wonder it was, and how well worthy of such a grateful record as these verses afford! It will be a sweet cordial to us one of these days to remember our self-denials, and to bless God that we were able to exhibit them.

God first gives us holiness, and then rewards us for it. We are his workmanship; vessels made unto honour; and when made, the honour is not withheld from the vessel; though, in fact, it all belongs to the Potter upon whose wheel the vessel was fashioned. The prize is awarded to the flower at the show, but the gardener reared it; the child wins the prize from the schoolmaster, but the real honour of his schooling lies with the master, although instead of receiving he gives the reward.

The dealings of the Lord in his own case, cause the grateful singer to remember the usual rule of God's moral government; he is just in his dealings with the sons of men, and metes out to each man according to his measure. "With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright." Every man shall have his meat weighed in his own scales, his corn meted in his own bushel, and his land measured with his own rod. No rule can be more fair, to ungodly men more terrible, or to the generous man more honourable. How would men throw away their light weights, and break their short yards, if they could but believe that they themselves are sure to be in the end the losers by their knavish tricks! Note that even the merciful need mercy; no amount of generosity to the poor, or forgiveness to enemies, can set us beyond the need of mercy. Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner.

"With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward." The sinner's frowardness is sinful and rebellious, and the only sense in which the term can be applied to the Most Holy God is that of judicial opposition and sternness, in which the Judge of all the earth will act at cross-purposes with the offender, and let him see that all things are not to be made subservient to wicked whims and wilful fancies. Calvin very forcibly says, "This brutish and monstrous stupidity in men compels God to invent new modes of expression, and as it were to clothe himself with a different character." There is a similar sentence in Leviticus 26:21-24, where God says, "and if ye walk contrary unto (or perversely with) me, then I will also walk contrary unto (or perversely, or roughly, or at random with) you." As if he had said that their obstinacy and stubbornness would make him on his part forget his accustomed forbearance and gentleness, and cast himself recklessly or at random against them. We see then what the stubborn at length gain by their obduracy; it is this, that God hardens himself still more to break them in pieces, and if they are of stone, he causes them to feel that he has the hardness of iron." The Jewish tradition was that the manna tasted according to each man's mouth; certainly God shows himself to each individual according to his character.

"For thou wilt save the afflicted people." This is a comforting assurance for the poor in spirit whose spiritual griefs admit of no sufficient solace from any other than a divine hand. They cannot save themselves nor can others do it, but God will save them. "But will bring down high looks." Those who look down on others with scorn shall be looked down upon with contempt ere long. The Lord abhors a proud look. What a reason for repentance and humiliation! How much better to be humble than to provoke God to humble us in his wrath! A considerable number of clauses occur in this passage in the future tense; how forcibly are we thus brought to remember that our present joy or sorrow is not to have so much weight with us as the great and eternal future!

"For thou wilt light my candle." Even the children of the day sometimes need candle-light. In the darkest hour light will arise; a candle shall be lit, it will be comfort such as we may fittingly use without dishonesty —it will be our own candle; yet God himself will find the holy fire with which the candle shall burn; our evidences are our own, but their comfortable light is from above. Candles which are lit by God the devil cannot blow out. All candles are not shining, and so there are some graces which yield no present comfort; but it is well to have candles which may by and by be lit, and it is well to possess graces which may yet afford us cheering evidences. The metaphor of the whole verse is founded upon the dolorous nature of darkness and the delightfulness of light; "truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun;" and even so the presence of the Lord removes all the gloom of sorrow, and enables the believer to rejoice with exceeding great joy. The lighting of the lamp is a cheerful moment in the winter's evening, but the lifting up of the light of God's countenance is happier far. It is said that the poor in Egypt will stint themselves of bread to buy oil for the lamp, so that they may not sit in darkness; we could well afford to part with all earthly comforts if the light of God's love could but constantly gladden our souls.

Some repetitions are not vain repetitions. Second thoughts upon God's mercy should be and often are the best. Like wines on the lees our gratitude grows stronger and sweeter as we meditate upon divine goodness. The verses which we have now to consider are the ripe fruit of a thankful spirit; they are apples of gold as to matter, and they are placed in baskets of silver as to their language. They describe the believer's victorious career and his enemies' confusion.

"For by thee have I run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall." Whether we meet the foe in the open field or leap upon them while they lurk behind the battlements of a city, we shall by God's grace defeat them in either case; if they hem us in with living legions, or environ us with stone walls, we shall with equal certainty obtain our liberty. Such feats we have already performed, hewing our way at a run through hosts of difficulties, and scaling impossibilities at a leap. God's warriors may expect to have a taste of every form of fighting, and must by the power of faith determine to quit themselves like men; but it behoves them to be very careful to lay all their laurels at Jehovah's feet, each one of them saying, "by my God" have I wrought this valiant deed. Our spolia optima, the trophies of our conflicts, we hereby dedicate to the God of Battles, and ascribe to him all glory and strength.

"As for God, his way is perfect." Far past all fault and error are God's dealings with his people; all his actions are resplendent with justice, truth, tenderness, mercy, and holiness. Every way of God is complete in itself, and all his ways put together are matchless in harmony and goodness. Is it not very consolatory to believe that he who has begun to bless us will perfect his work, for all his ways are "perfect." Nor must the divine "word" be without its song of praise. "The word of the Lord is tried," like silver refined in the furnace. The doctrines are glorious, the precepts are pure, the promises are faithful, and the whole revelation is superlatively full of grace and truth. David had tried it, thousands have tried it, we have tried it, and it has never failed. It was meet that when way and word had been extolled, the Lord himself should be magnified; hence it is added, "He is a buckler to all those that trust in him." No armour of proof or shield of brass so well secures the warrior as the covenant God of Israel protects his warring people. He himself is the buckler of trustful ones; what a thought is this! What peace may every trusting soul enjoy!

Having mentioned his God, the psalmist's heart burns, and his words sparkle; he challenges heaven and earth to find another being worthy of adoration or trust in comparison with Jehovah. His God, as Matthew Henry says, is a None-such. The idols of the heathen he scorns to mention, snuffing them all out as mere nothings when Deity is spoken of. "Who is God save the Lord?" Who else creates, sustains, foresees, and overrules? Who but he is perfect in every attribute, and glorious in every act? To whom but Jehovah should creatures bow? Who else can claim their service and their love? "Who is a rock save our God?" Where can lasting hopes be fixed? Where can the soul find rest? Where is stability to be found? Where is strength to be discovered? Surely in the Lord Jehovah alone can we find rest and refuge.

Surveying all the armour in which he fought and conquered, the joyful victor praises the Lord for every part of the panoply. The girdle of his loins earns the first stanza: "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect." Girt about the loins with power from heaven, the warrior was filled with vigour, far above all created might; and, whereas, without this wondrous belt he would have been feeble and effeminate, with relaxed energies and scattered forces, he felt himself, when braced with the girdle of truth, to be compact in purpose, courageous in daring, and concentrated in power; so that his course was a complete success, so undisturbed by disastrous defeat as to be called "perfect." Have we been made more than conquerors over sin, and has our life hitherto been such as becometh the gospel? Then let us ascribe all the glory to him who girt us with his own inexhaustible strength, that we might be unconquered in battle and unwearied in pilgrimage.

The conqueror's feet had been shod by a divine hand, and the next note must, therefore, refer to them. "He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places." Pursuing his foes the warrior had been swift of foot as a young roe, but, instead of taking pleasure in the legs of a man, he ascribes the boon of swiftness to the Lord alone. When our thoughts are nimble, and our spirits rapid, like the chariots of Amminadib, let us not forget that our best Beloved's hand has given us the choice favour. Climbing into impregnable fortresses, David had been preserved from slipping, and made to stand where scarce the wild goat can find a footing; herein was preserving mercy manifested. We, too, have had our high places of honour, service, temptation, and danger, but hitherto we have been kept from falling. Bring hither the harp, and let us emulate the psalmist's joyful thanksgiving; had we fallen, our wailings must have been terrible; since we have stood, let our gratitude be fervent.

"He teacheth my hands to war." Martial prowess and skill in the use of weapons are gratefully acknowledged to be the result of divine teaching; no sacrifice is offered at the shrine of self in praise of natural dexterity, or acquired skilfulness; but, regarding all warlike prowess as a gift of heavenly favour, thankfulness is presented to the Giver. The Holy Spirit is the great Drillmaster of heavenly soldiers. "So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms." A bow of brass is probably meant, and these bows could scarcely be bent by the arms alone, the archer had to gain the assistance of his foot; it was, therefore, a great feat of strength to bend the bow, so far as even to snap it in halves. This was meant of the enemies' bow, which he not only snatched from his grasp, but rendered useless by breaking it in pieces. Jesus not only destroyed the fiery suggestions of Satan, but he broke his arguments with which he shot them, by using Holy Scripture against him; by the same means we may win a like triumph, breaking the bow and cutting the spear in sunder by the sharp edge of revealed truth. Probably David had by nature a vigorous bodily frame; but it is even more likely that, like Samson, he was at times clothed with more than common strength; at any rate, he ascribes the honour of his feats entirely to his God. Let us never wickedly rob the Lord of his due, but faithfully give unto him the glory which is due unto his name.

"Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation." Above all we must take the shield of faith, for nothing else can quench Satan's fiery darts; this shield is of celestial workmanship, and is in all cases a direct gift from God himself; it is the channel, the sign, the guarantee, and the earnest of perfect salvation. "Thy right hand hath holden me up." Secret support is administered to us by the preserving grace of God, and at the same time Providence kindly yields us manifest aid. We are such babes that we cannot stand alone; but when the Lord's right hand upholds us, we are like brazen pillars which cannot be moved. "Thy gentleness hath made me great." There are several readings of this sentence. The word is capable of being translated, "thy goodness hath made me great." David saw much of benevolence in God's action towards him, and he gratefully ascribed all his greatness not to his own goodness, but to the goodness of God. "Thy providence" is another reading, which is indeed nothing more than goodness in action. Goodness is the bud of which providence is the flower; or goodness is the seed of which providence is the harvest. Some render it, "thy help," which is but another word for providence; providence being the firm ally of the saints, aiding them in the service of their Lord. Certain learned annotators tell us that the text means, "thy humility hath made me great." "Thy condescension" may, perhaps, serve as a comprehensive reading, combining the ideas which we have already mentioned, as well as that of humility. It is God's making himself little which is the cause of our being made great. We are so little that If God should manifest his greatness without condescension, we should be trampled under his feet; but God, who must stoop to view the skies and bow to see what angels do, looks to the lowly and contrite, and makes them great. While these are the translations which have been given to the adopted text of the original, we find that there are other readings altogether; as for instance, the Septuagint, which reads, "thy discipline" —thy fatherly correction — "hath made me great;" while the Chaldee paraphrase reads, "thy word hath increased me." Still the idea is the same. David ascribes all his own greatness to the condescending goodness and graciousness of his Father in heaven. Let us all feel this sentiment in our own hearts, and confess that whatever of goodness or greatness God may have put upon us, we must cast our crowns at his feet and cry, "thy gentleness hath made me great."

"Thou hast enlarged my steps." A smooth pathway leading to spacious possessions and camping-grounds had been opened up for him. Instead of threading the narrow mountain paths, and hiding in the cracks and corners of caverns, he was able to traverse the plains and dwell under his own vine and fig tree. 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 slip with our feet. To stand upon the rocks of affliction is the result of gracious upholding, but that aid is quite as much needed in the luxurious plains of prosperity.

The preservation of the saints bodes ill for their adversaries. The Amelekites thought themselves clear away with their booty, but when David's God guided him in the pursuit, they were soon overtaken and cut in pieces. When God is with us sins and sorrows flee, and all forms of evil are "consumed" before the power of grace. What a noble picture this and the following verses present to us of the victories of our glorious Lord Jesus!

The destruction of our spiritual enemies is complete. We may exult over sin, death, and hell, as disarmed and disabled for us by our conquering Lord; may he graciously give them a like defeat within us.

Verses 39 and 40. It is impossible to be too frequent in the duty of ascribing all our victories to the God of our salvation. It is true that we have to wrestle with our spiritual antagonists, but the triumph is far more the Lord's than ours. We must not boast like the ambitious votaries of vainglory, but we may exult as the willing and believing instruments in the Lord's hand of accomplishing his great designs.

"They cried, but there was none to save them; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not." Prayer is so notable a weapon that even the wicked will take to it to in their fits of desperation. Bad men have appealed to God against God's own servants, but all in vain; the kingdom of heaven is not divided, and God never succours his foes at the expense of his friends. There are prayers to God which are no better than blasphemy, which bring no comfortable reply, but rather provoke the Lord to greater wrath. Shall I ask a man to wound or slay his own child to gratify my malice? Would he not resent the insult against his humanity? How much less will Jehovah regard the cruel desires of the enemies of the church, who dare to offer their prayers for its destruction, calling its existence schism, and its doctrine heresy!

The defeat of the nations who fought with King David was so utter and complete that they were like powders pounded in a mortar; their power was broken into fragments and they became as weak as dust before the wind, and as mean as the mire of the roads. Thus powerless and base are the enemies of God now become through the victory of the Son of David upon the cross. Arise, O my soul, and meet thine enemies, for they have sustained a deadly blow, and will fall before thy bold advance.

"Hell and my sins resist my course,

But hell and sin are vanquish'd foes

My Jesus nail'd them to his cross,

And sung the triumph when he rose."

"Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people." Internal strife is very hard to deal with. A civil war is war in its most miserable form; it is a subject for warmest gratitude when concord rules within. Our poet praises Jehovah for the union and peace which smiled in his dominions, and if we have peace in the three kingdoms of our spirit, soul, and body, we are in duty bound to give Jehovah a song. Unity in a church should assuredly excite like gratitude. "Thou hast made me the head of the heathen; a people whom I have not known shall serve me." The neighbouring nations yielded to the sway of Judah's prince. Oh, when shall all lands adore King Jesus, and serve him with holy joy? Surely there is far more of Jesus than of David here. Missionaries may derive rich encouragement from the positive declaration that heathen lands shall own the Headship of the Crucified.

"As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me." Thus readily did the once struggling captain become a far-renowned victor, and thus easy shall be our triumphs. We prefer, however, to speak of Jesus. 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!

"The strangers shall fade away." Like sear leaves or blasted trees our foes and Christ's foes shall find no sap and stamina remaining in them. Those who are strangers to Jesus are strangers to all lasting happiness; those must soon fade who refuse to be watered from the river of life. "And be afraid out of their close places." 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.

Thus with remembrance of conquests in the past, and with glad anticipations of victories yet to come, the sweet singer closes the description, and returns to exercise of more direct adoration of his gracious God.

"The Lord liveth." Possessing underived, essential, independent and eternal life. We serve no inanimate, imaginary, or dying God. He only hath immortality. Like loyal subjects let us cry, Live on, O God. Long live the King of kings. By thine immortality do we dedicate ourselves afresh to thee. As the Lord our God liveth so would we live to him. "And blessed be my rock." He is the ground of our hope, and let him be the subject of our praise. Our hearts bless the Lord, with holy love extolling him.

Jehovah lives, my rock be blessed!

Praised be the God who gives me rest! "Let the God of my salvation be exalted." As our Saviour, the Lord should more than ever be glorified. We should publish abroad the story of the covenant and the cross, the Father's election, the Son's redemption, and the Spirit's regeneration. He who rescues us from deserved ruin should be very dear to us. In heaven they sing "Unto him that loved us and washed us in his blood;" the like music should be common in the assemblies of the saints below.

"It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me." To rejoice in personal revenge is unhallowed and evil, but David viewed himself as the instrument of vengeance upon the enemies of God and his people, and had he not rejoiced in the success accorded to him he would have been worthy of censure. That sinners perish is in itself a painful consideration, but that the Lord's law is avenged upon those who break it is to the devout mind a theme for thankfulness. We must, however, always remember that vengeance is never ours, vengeance belongeth unto the Lord, and he is so just and withal so longsuffering in the exercise of it, that we may safely leave its administration in his hands.

From all enemies, and especially from one who was pre-eminent in violence, the Lord's anointed was preserved, and at the last over the head of Saul and all other adversaries he reigned in honour. The like end awaits every saint, because Jesus who stooped to be lightly esteemed among men is now made to sit far above all principalities and powers.

Paul cites this verse (Romans 15:9): "And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name." This is clear evidence that David's Lord is here, but David is here too, and is to be viewed as an example of a holy soul making its boast in God even in the presence of ungodly men. Who are the despisers of God that we should stop our mouths for them? We will sing to our God whether they like it or no, and force upon them the knowledge of his goodness. Too much politeness to traitors may be treason to our King.

This is the winding up verse into which the writer throws a fulness of expression, indicating the most rapturous delight of gratitude. "Great deliverance." The word "deliverance" is plural, to show the variety and completeness of the salvation; the adjective "great" is well placed if we consider from what, to what, and how we are saved. All this mercy is given to us in our King, the Lord's Anointed, and those are blessed indeed who as his seed may expect mercy to be built up for evermore. The Lord was faithful to the literal David, and he will not break his covenant with the spiritual David, for that would far more involve the honour of his crown and character.

The Psalm concludes in the same loving spirit which shone upon its commencement; happy are they who can sing on from love to love, even as the pilgrims marched from strength to strength.

Whole Psalm. The general argument of the Psalm may be thus stated: it is a magnificent eucharistic ode. It begins with a celebration of the glorious perfections of the Divinity, whose assistance the speaker has so often experienced. He describes, or rather, he delineates, his perils, the power of his enemies, his sudden deliverance from them, and the indignation and power of his divine deliverer manifested in their overthrow. He paints these in so lively colours, that while we read we seem to see the lightning, to hear the thunders, to feel the earthquake. He afterwards describes his victories, so that we seem to be eye-witnesses of them, and take part in them. He predicts a wide-extended empire, and concludes with a lofty expression of grateful adoration of Jehovah, the Author of all his deliverances and triumphs. The style is highly oratorical and poetical, sublime, and full of uncommon figures of speech. It is the natural language of a person of the highest mental endowments, under a divine inspiration, deeply affected by remarkable divine benefits, and filled with the most lofty conceptions of the divine character and dispensations. —John Brown, D.D., 1853. Whole Psalm. Kitto, in "The Pictorial Bible," has the following note upon 2 Samuel 22: —"This is the same as the eighteenth Psalm. . . . The Rabbins reckon up seventy-four differences between the two copies, most of them very minute. They probably arose from the fact that the poem was, as they conjecture, composed by David in his youth, and revised in his later days, when he sent it to the chief musician. The present is, of course, to be the earlier copy." Whole Psalm. The eighteenth Psalm is called by Michaelis more artificial, and less truly terrible, than the Mosaic odes. In structure it may be so, but surely not in spirit. It appears to many besides us, one of the most magnificent lyrical raptures in the Scriptures. As if the poet had dipped his pen in "the brightness of that light which was before his eye," so he describes the descending God. Perhaps it may be objected that the nodus is hardly worthy of the vindex —to deliver David from his enemies, could Deity ever be imagined to come down? But the objector knows not the character of the ancient Hebrew mind. God in its view had not to descend from heaven; he was nigh —a cloud like a man's hand might conceal —a cry, a look might bring him down. And why should not David's fancy clothe him, as he came, in a panoply befitting his dignity, in clouds spangled with coals of fire? If he was to descend, why not in state? The proof of the grandeur of this Psalm is in the fact that it has borne the test of almost every translation, and made doggerel erect itself, and become divine. Even Sternhold and Hopkins its fiery whirlwind lifts up, purifies, touches into true power, and then throws down, helpless and panting, upon their ancient common. Perhaps the great charm of the eighteenth, apart from the poetry of the descent, is the exquisite and subtle alternation of the I and the Thou. We have spoken of parallelism, as the key to the mechanism of Hebrew song. We find this as existing between David and God —the delivered and the deliverer —beautifully pursued throughout the whole of this Psalm. "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." "I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised." "He sent from above; he took me; he drew me out of many waters." "Thou wilt light my candle." "Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation." "Thou hast girded me with strength unto battle." "Thou hast given me the necks of mine enemies." "Thou hast made me the head of the heathen." It has been ingeniously argued, that the existence of the I suggests, inevitably as a polar opposite, the thought of the Thou, that the personality of man proves thus the personality of God; but, be this as it may, David's perception of that personality is nowhere so intense as here. He seems not only to see, but to feel and touch, the object of his gratitude and worship. —George Gilfillan, in "The Bards of the Bible," 1852. Whole Psalm. He that would be wise, let him read the Proverbs; he that would by holy, let him read the Psalms. Every line in this book breathes peculiar sanctity. This Psalm, though placed among the first, was penned among the last, as the preface assures us, and is left as the epitome of the general history of David's life. It is twice recorded in the Scripture (2 Samuel 22, and in this book of Psalms), for the excellency and sweetness thereof; surely that we should take double notice of it. Holy David, being near the shore, here looks on his former dangers and deliverances with a thankful heart, and writes this Psalm to bless the Lord: as if each of you that are grown into years should review your lives and observe the wonderful goodness and providence of God towards you; and then sit down and write a modest memorial of his most remarkable mercies, for the comfort of yourselves and posterity; an excellent practice. What a comfort would it be for you to read how good your God was to you father or grandfather, that are dead and gone! So would your children rejoice in the Lord upon the reading of his goodness to you; and you cannot have a better pattern for this than holy David, who wrote this Psalm when he was threescore and seven years old; when he had outlived most of his troubles, and almost ready for his journey to his Father in heaven, he resolves to leave this good report of him upon earth. And I pray mark how he begins: he sets not up trophies to himself, but triumphs in his God —"I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." As the love of God is the beginning of all our mercies, so love to God should be the end and effect of them all. As the stream leads us to the spring, so all the gifts of God must lead us to the giver of them. Lord, thou hast saved me from sickness, "I will love thee;" from death and hell, "I will love thee;" on me thou hast bestowed grace and comfort, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." And after he had heaped on God all the sweet names he could devise (verse 2), as the true saint thinks he can never speak too well of God, or too ill of himself, then he begins his narrative. 1. Of his dangers (verse 4); "Snares of death," "Floods of ungodly men," "Sorrows of hell." Hell and earth are combined against each holy man, and will trouble sufficiently in this world, if they cannot keep him out of a better. 2. Of his retreat, and that was, earnest prayer to God (verse 6), "I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God." When our prayers are cries ardent and importunate, then they speed: "My cry came before him, even into his ears." The mother trifles while the child whimpers, but when he raises his note —strains every nerve and cries every vein —then she throws all aside, and gives him his desire. While our prayers are only whispers, our God can take his rest; but when we fall to crying, "Now will I arise, saith the Lord." 3. Of his rescue (verses 7 to 20), by the powerful and terrible arm of the Lord, who is in a lofty strain brought in to his servant's help, as if he would mingle heaven and earth together, rather than leave his child in the lion's paws. 4. Of the reason of this gracious dealing of God with him (verse 20, etc.). He was a righteous person, and he had a righteous cause. And thereupon he turns to God, saying, Thou hast dealt with me just as thou art wont to do, "with the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright." —Richard Steele's "Plain Discourse upon Uprightness," 1670. Whole Psalm. Sometimes the Lord cheers and comforts the heart of his people with smiling and reviving providences, both public and personal. There are times of lifting up, as well as casting down by the hand of providence. The scene changes, the aspects of providence are very cheerful and encouraging; their winter seems to be over; they put off their garments of mourning; and then, ah, what sweet returns are made to heavenly gracious souls! Doth God lift them up by prosperity? they also will lift up their God by praises. See title, and verses 1-3 of Psalm 18. So Moses, and the people with him (Exodus 15), when God had delivered them from Pharaoh, how do they exalt him in a song of thanksgiving, which for the elegancy and spirituality of it, is made an emblem of the doxologies given to God in glory by the saints. Revelation 15:1. —John Flavel. Title. "The servant of the Lord;" the name given to Moses (Joshua 1:1, 13, 15, and in nine other places of that book) and to Joshua (Joshua 24:29; Judges 2:8); but to none other except David (here, and in the title to Psalm 36). Compare Acts 13:36, uphreteoas. This is significant; reminding us of the place occupied by David in the history of Israel. He was the appointed successor of Moses and Joshua, who extended the power of Israel over the whole region allotted to them by Divine promise. —W. Kay, 1871. Title. This Psalm, which is entitled a shirah (or song), is David's hymn of praise to God for his deliverance from all his enemies (see the title, and above, 2 Samuel 22), and has an appropriate place in the present group of Psalms, which speak of resurrection after suffering. It is entitled a Psalm of David, "the servant of the Lord," and thus is coupled with another psalm of deliverance, Psalm 36. —Christopher Wordsworth.

"I will love thee, O Lord." The word whereby the psalmist expresseth his entire affection, in the noun signifieth a womb, and imparteth such an affection as cometh from the innermost part of man (Heb. matrix), from his bowels, from the bottom of his heart, as we speak. It is, therefore, oft put for such pity and compassion as moveth the bowels. Some, therefore, thus translate that phrase, "From my innermost bowels will I love thee, O Lord." To give evidence of his entire and ardent love of God, he oft professeth his wonderful great love to God's commandments, whereof he saith with admiration, "Oh, how I love thy law! I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. I love them exceedingly" (Psalm 119:97, 127, 167); therefore, he saith to God, "Consider how I love thy precepts" (verse 159). —William Gouge, 1575-1653.

"I will love thee." Intimately as a mother loves the child that comes out of her womb. —Westminster Assembly's Annotations, 1651.

God hath, as it were, made himself over to believers. David doth not say, God will give me or bestow salvation upon me; but he saith, "He is the horn of my salvation." It is God himself who is the salvation and the portion of his people. They would not care much for salvation if God were not their salvation. It more pleaseth the saints that they enjoy God, than that they enjoy salvation. False and carnal spirits will express a great deal of desire after salvation, for they like salvation, heaven, and glory well; but they never express any longing desire after God and Jesus Christ. They love salvation, but they care not for a Saviour. Now that which faith pitcheth most upon is God himself; he shall be my salvation, let me have him, and that is salvation enough; he is my life, he is my comfort, he is my riches, he is my honour, and he is my all. Thus David's heart acted immediately upon God, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." It pleased holy David more that God was his strength, than that God gave him strength; that God was his deliverer, than that he was delivered; that God was his fortress, his buckler, his horn, his high tower, than that he gave him the effect of all these. It pleased David, and it pleases all the saints more that God is their salvation, whether temporal or eternal, than that he saves them: the saints look more at God than at all that is God's. —Joseph Caryl.

God hath, as it were, made himself over to believers. David doth not say, God will give me or bestow salvation upon me; but he saith, "He is the horn of my salvation." It is God himself who is the salvation and the portion of his people. They would not care much for salvation if God were not their salvation. It more pleaseth the saints that they enjoy God, than that they enjoy salvation. False and carnal spirits will express a great deal of desire after salvation, for they like salvation, heaven, and glory well; but they never express any longing desire after God and Jesus Christ. They love salvation, but they care not for a Saviour. Now that which faith pitcheth most upon is God himself; he shall be my salvation, let me have him, and that is salvation enough; he is my life, he is my comfort, he is my riches, he is my honour, and he is my all. Thus David's heart acted immediately upon God, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." It pleased holy David more that God was his strength, than that God gave him strength; that God was his deliverer, than that he was delivered; that God was his fortress, his buckler, his horn, his high tower, than that he gave him the effect of all these. It pleased David, and it pleases all the saints more that God is their salvation, whether temporal or eternal, than that he saves them: the saints look more at God than at all that is God's. —Joseph Caryl.

David speaks like one in love with God, for he doth adorn him with confession of praise, and his mouth is filled with the praise of the Lord, which he expresseth in this exuberancy and redundancy of holy oratory. —Edward Marbury.

David speaks like one in love with God, for he doth adorn him with confession of praise, and his mouth is filled with the praise of the Lord, which he expresseth in this exuberancy and redundancy of holy oratory. —Edward Marbury.

"The Lord is my rock." As the rocks that are hard to be clambered unto are good refuges to fly unto from the face of pursuers, so God is the safety of all such as in distress do fly to him for succor. —Robert Cawdray.

"My deliverer." He who betook himself to one of these inaccessible retreats, was sometimes obliged by famine to surrender to his enemy, who lay in wait for him beneath; but Jehovah gives him not only security but liberty; not only preserves him, as it were, in an inaccessible retreat, but at the same time enables him to go forth in safety. —Jarchi.

"The horn of my salvation." The allusion here is doubtful. Some have supposed the reference to be to the horns of animals, by which they defend themselves and attack their enemies. "God is to me, does for me, what their horns do for them." Others consider it as referring to the well-established fact, that warriors were accustomed to place horns, or ornaments like horns, on their helmets. The horn stands for the helmet; and "the helmet of salvation" is an expression equivalent to "a saving, a protecting helmet." Others consider the reference as to the corners or handles of the altar in the court of the tabernacle or temple, which are called its horns. Others suppose the reference to be to the highest point of a lofty and precipitous mountain, which we are accustomed to call its peak. No doubt, in the Hebrew language, horn is used for mountain as in Isaiah 5:1. A very fertile mountain is called a horn of oil. The sense is substantially the same, whichever of these views we take; though, from the connection with "shield" or "buckler," I am induced to consider the second of these views as the most probable. It seems the same idea as that expressed, Psalm 140:7, "Thou hast covered," and thou wilt cover "my head in the day of battle." —John Brown.

"The horn of my salvation." Horns are the well-known emblems of strength and power, both in the sacred and profane writers; by a metaphor taken from horned animals, which are frequently made subjects of comparison by poetical writers, and the strength of which, whether for offence or defence, consists principally in their horns. Bruce speaks of a remarkable head-dress worn by the governors of provinces in Abyssinia, consisting of a large broad fillet, bound upon their foreheads and tied behind their heads, and having in the middle of it a horn, or a conical piece of silver, gilt, about four inches long, much in the shape of our common candle extinguishers. It is called kirn or horn, and is only worn on reviews or parades after victory. He supposes this, like other Abyssinian usages, to be taken from the Hebrews, and is of opinion that there are many allusions to the practice in Scripture, in the expression, "lifting up the horn," "exalting the horn," and the like. —Richard Mant.

"The Lord is my high tower." If a man do run to a tower, yet if that be a weak and an insufficient tower, without men and munition, and a ruinous shaken tower; or if a man do make choice of a tower, a strong sufficient tower, yet if in his danger he betakes not himself to that tower, but he sit still; or if he sit not still, yet he but only go and walk on easily towards it, he may well be met withal, and a danger may arrest him, surprise him, and cut him off before he get the tower over his head. But the man that will be safe, as he must choose a strong tower, so he must go to, nay, run into that tower. Running will not secure a man unless the tower be strong. . . . David was got unto his tower, and in that tower there was thundering ordnance, and David put fire to them by prayer, verse 6, "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even unto his ears." Here David prays and gives fire to the cannon, and what followed? See verses 7, 8, 13, 14. "Then the earth shook and trembled," etc. "There went up a smoke out of his nostrils," etc. "The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them." There were no guns nor ordnance invented and in use in David's time, and yet David's prayers being in this tower, did him as good service against his enemies as all the ordnance and cannons in the world have done. David had thundering ordnance, and with them discomfited his enemies long before powder and guns were invented. It is a memorable and well known story of that Christian legion that was in Marcus Aurelius's army: the enemy being in great straits, those Christian soldiers did by their prayers not only procure rain, by which his languishing army was refreshed, but also obtained hail mixed with thunderbolts against his enemies, upon which he honoured them with the name Legio fulminatrix, the Thundering Legion. They used David's cannon against the enemy, and discharged that thundering ordnance by their prayers, and that to the confusion of their enemies. —Jeremiah Dyke's "Righteous Man's Tower," 1639.

"My high tower." Even as the fowls of the air, that they may escape the nets and snares of the fowlers, are wont to fly up on high; so we, to avoid the infinite snares of innumerable temptations, must fly to God; and lift up ourselves from the corruptions, lying vanities, and deceitful sleights of the world. —Robert Cawdray.

"I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised." Prayer and invocation of God should always be joined with praises and thanksgivings, and used as a means whereby faith shall extract the good which it knoweth is in God, and of which he hath made promise. —David Dickson.

"So shall I be saved from mine enemies." Whoso comes to God as he should will not call in vain. The right kind of prayer is the most potent instrumentality known on earth. —William S. Plumer.

"Sorrows of death." It is heaven's peculiar to be the land of the living; all this life is at most but the shadow of death, the gate of death, the sorrows of death, the snares of death, the terrors of death, the chambers of death, the sentence of death, the savour of death, the ministration of death, the way of death. —Matthew Griffith, 1634.

"The bands or cords of death encompassed me." It is not very easy to fix the precise meaning of the phrase, "bands" or "cords" of death. It may either be considered as equivalent to "the bands by which the dead are bound," in which case, to be encircled with the bands of death is just a figurative expression for being dead; or it may be considered as equivalent to the bands in which a person is bound in the prospect of a violent death, and by which his violent death is secured, he being prevented from escaping. It has been supposed by some, that the allusion is to the ancient mode of hunting wild animals. A considerable tract of country was surrounded with strong ropes. The circle was gradually contracted till the object of pursuit was so confined as to become an easy prey to the hunter. These cords were the cords of death, securing the death of the animal. The phrase is applicable to our Lord in both senses; but as "the floods" of wickedness, or the wicked, are represented as making him afraid subsequently to his being encircled with the cords of death, I am disposed to understand it in the latter of these two senses. —John Brown.

"The floods." There is no metaphor of more frequent occurrence with the sacred poets, than that which represents dreadful and unexpected calamities under the image of overwhelming waters. This image seems to have been especially familiar with the Hebrews, inasmuch as it was derived from the peculiar habit and nature of their own country. They had continually before their eyes the river Jordan, annually overflowing its banks, when at the approach of summer the snows of Libanus and the neighbouring mountains melted, and, suddenly pouring down in torrents, swelled the current of the river. Besides, the whole country of Palestine, although it was not watered by many perennial streams, was, from the mountainous character of the greater part of it, liable to numerous torrents, which precipitated themselves through the narrow valleys after the periodical rainy seasons. This image, therefore, however known and adopted by other poets, may be considered as particularly familiar, and as it were, domestic with the Hebrews; who accordingly introduced it with greater frequency and freedom. —Robert Lowth (Bishop), 1710-1787.

"The snares of death prevented me." The word "snares," signifies such traps or gins as are laid for birds and wild beasts. The English word "prevent" has changed its meaning in some measure since our authorised translation of the Bible was made. Its original meaning is to "come before." —John Brown.

"In my distress." If you listen even to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Spirit hath laboured more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see, in needleworks and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground; judge, therefore, of the pleasures of the heart by the pleasures of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odours —most fragrant when they are crushed; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue. —Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, etc., 1561-1626.

"I called upon the Lord and cried." Prayer is not eloquence, but earnestness; not in the definition of helplessness, but the feeling of it; it is the cry of faith to the ear of mercy. —Hannah Moore, 1745-1833.

"He heard my voice out of his temple," etc. The ædiles or chamberlains among the Romans, had ever their doors standing open for all who had occasion of request or complaint to have free access to them. "God's mercy-doors are wide open to the prayers of his faithful people." The Persian kings held it a piece of their silly glory to deny an easy access to their greatest subjects. It was death to solicit them uncalled. Esther herself was afraid. But the king of heaven manifesteth himself to his people, he calls to his spouse, with, "Let me see thy face, let me hear thy voice," etc., and assigneth her negligence herein as the cause of her soul-sickness. The door of the tabernacle was not of any hard or debarring matter, but a veil, which is easily penetrable. And whereas in the temple none came near to worship, but only the high priest, others stood without in the outer court. God's people are now a kingdom of priests, and are said to worship in the temple, and at the altar. Revelation 11:1. "Let us therefore draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith:" "let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 10:22; 4:16. —Charles Bradbury's "Cabinet of Jewels," 1785.

Oh! how true is that saying, that "Faith is safe when in danger, and in danger when secure; and prayer is fervent in straits, but in joyful and prosperous circumstances, if not quite cold and dead, at least lukewarm." Oh, happy straits, if they hinder the mind from flowing forth upon earthly objects, and mingling itself with the mire; if they favour our correspondence with heaven, and quicken our love to celestial objects, without which, what we call life, may more properly deserve the name of death! —Robert Leighton, D.D.

The prayer of a single saint is sometimes followed with wonderful effects; "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth:" what then can a thundering legion of such praying souls do? It was said of Luther, iste vir potuit cum Deo quicquid voluit, That man could have of God what he would; his enemies felt the weight of his prayers; and the church of God reaped the benefits thereof. The Queen of Scots professed she was more afraid of the prayers of Mr. Knox, than of an army of ten thousand men. These were mighty wrestlers with God, howsoever contemned and vilified among their enemies. There will a time come when God will hear the prayers of his people who are continually crying in his ears, "How long, Lord, how long?" —John Flavel.

The prayer of a single saint is sometimes followed with wonderful effects; "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth:" what then can a thundering legion of such praying souls do? It was said of Luther, iste vir potuit cum Deo quicquid voluit, That man could have of God what he would; his enemies felt the weight of his prayers; and the church of God reaped the benefits thereof. The Queen of Scots professed she was more afraid of the prayers of Mr. Knox, than of an army of ten thousand men. These were mighty wrestlers with God, howsoever contemned and vilified among their enemies. There will a time come when God will hear the prayers of his people who are continually crying in his ears, "How long, Lord, how long?" —John Flavel.

"Then the earth shook and trembled." The word (Heb.) signifies, to move or shake violently: it is employed, also, to denote the reeling and staggering of a drunken man. Jeremiah 25:16. —John Morison, in loc.

Let no appearing impossibilities make you question God's accomplishment of any of his gracious words. Though you cannot see how the thing can be done, 'tis enough if God hath said that he will do it. There can be no obstructions to promised salvation which we need to fear. He who is the God of this salvation and the Author of the promise will prepare his own way for the doing of his own work, so that "every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low." Luke 3:5. Though the valleys be so deep that we cannot see the bottom, and the mountains so high that we cannot see the tops of them, yet God knows how to raise the one and level the other. Isaiah 63:1. "I that speak in righteousness (or faithfulness) am mighty to save." If anything would keep back the kingdom of Christ, it would be our infidelity; but he will come though he should find no faith on the earth. See Romans 3:3. Cast not away your confidence because he defers his performances. Though providences run cross, though they move backwards and forwards, you have a sure and faithful word to rely upon. Promises, though they be for a time seemingly delayed, cannot be finally frustrated. Dare not to harbour such a thought within yourselves as Psalm 77:8; "Doth his promise fail for evermore?" The being of God may as well fail as the promise of God. That which does not come in your time, will be hastened in his time, which is always the more convenient season. Accuse him not of slowness who hath said, "I come quickly," that is, he comes as soon as all things are ready and ripe for his appearance. 'Tis as true that "the Lord is not slack concerning his promise" (2 Peter 3:9), as that he is never guilty of breaking his promise. Wait, therefore, how long soever he tarry; do not give over expecting: the heart of God is not turned though his face be hid; and prayers are not flung back, though they be not instantly answered. —Timothy Cruso.

The volcanic phenomena of Palestine open a question of which the data are, in a scientific point of view, too imperfect to be discussed; but there is enough in the history and literature of the people to show that there was an agency of this kind at work. The valley of the Jordan, both in its desolation and vegetation, was one continued portent; and from its crevices ramified even into the interior of Judea the startling appearances, if not of the volcano, at least of the earthquake. Their historical effect in the special theatres of their operation will appear as we proceed; but their traces on the permanent feeling of the nation must be noticed here. The writings of the psalmists and prophets abound with indications which escape the eye of a superficial reader. Like the soil of their country, they actually heave and labour with the fiery convulsions which glow beneath their surface. —Arthur Penrhyn Stanley.

The volcanic phenomena of Palestine open a question of which the data are, in a scientific point of view, too imperfect to be discussed; but there is enough in the history and literature of the people to show that there was an agency of this kind at work. The valley of the Jordan, both in its desolation and vegetation, was one continued portent; and from its crevices ramified even into the interior of Judea the startling appearances, if not of the volcano, at least of the earthquake. Their historical effect in the special theatres of their operation will appear as we proceed; but their traces on the permanent feeling of the nation must be noticed here. The writings of the psalmists and prophets abound with indications which escape the eye of a superficial reader. Like the soil of their country, they actually heave and labour with the fiery convulsions which glow beneath their surface. —Arthur Penrhyn Stanley.

While Jesus hung on the cross, a preternatural "darkness covered all the land;" and no sooner had he yielded up his spirit, than "the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top even to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints that slept arose, and came out of the graves, after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." —John Brown.

In the night in which the Idumaeans lay before Jerusalem, there arose a prodigious tempest and fierce winds, with most vehement rains, frequent lightnings, and terrible thunderings, and great roarings of the shaken earth; and it was manifest that the state of the universe was disordered at the slaughter of men; so one might guess that these were signs of no small calamity. . . . At the day of Pentecost, when the priests, by night, went into the inner temple, according to their custom, to execute their office, they said they perceived, first of all, a shake and a noise, and after that a sudden voice, "Let us go hence." . . . A few days after the feast of unleavened bread, a strange and almost incredible sight was seen which would, I suppose, be taken for a mere fable, were it not related by such as saw it, and did not the miseries which followed appear answerable to the signs; for, before the sun set, were seen on high, in the air, all over the country, chariots and armed regiments moving swiftly in the clouds, and encompassing the city. —Flavius Josephus, 37-103.

"There went up a smoke out of his nostrils," (Heb. words). Or there ascended into his nose, as the words literally rendered, signify. The ancients placed the seat of anger in the nose, or nostrils; because when it grows warm and violent, it discovers itself, as it were, by a heated vehement breath, that proceeds from them. —Samuel Chandler, D.D., F.R. and A.S.S., 1766.

David calls the full force of poetical imagery to aid, to describe in a becoming manner the marvels of his deliverances. He means to say that they were as manifest as the signs of heaven and earth, as sudden and powerful as the phenomena in the kingdom of nature surprise terrified mortals. Deliverance being his theme, he might have taken the figure from the peaceable phenomena of the heavens. But since man heeds heaven more in anger than in blessing, and regards God more when he descends on earth in the storm than in the rainbow, David describes the blessed condescension of God by the figure of a tempest. In order to thoroughly appreciate the beauty and truthfulness of this figure, we should endeavour to realise the full power of an Oriental storm, as it is described in Psalm 29. Solitary lightning precedes the discharge —this is meant by the coals in verse 8: the clouds approach the mountain summits —the heavens bow, as verse 9 has it; the storm shakes its pinions; enwrapped in thick clouds as in a tent, God descends to the earth; hail (not unfrequently attending Eastern storms) and lightning issue from the black clouds, through the dissolving layers of which is seen the fiery splendour which hides the Lord of nature. He speaks, and thunder is his voice; he shoots, and flashes of lightning are his arrows. At his rebuke, and at the blast of his breath the earth recedes —the sea foams up, and its beds are seen —the land bursts, and the foundations of the world are discovered. And lo! an arm of deliverance issues forth from the black clouds, and the destructive fire grasps the wretched one who had cried out from the depths, pulls him forth, and delivers him from all his enemies! Yes, the hand of the Lord has done marvellous things in the life of David. But the eye of faith alone could perceive in them all the hand of God. Thousands whose experiences of the delivering hand of God are not less signal than those of David, stop short at the powers of nature, and instead of bending the knee before the All-merciful God, content themselves to express with cold hearts their admiration of the changes of the destiny of man. —Augustus F. Tholuck, D.D., Ph.D. —1856.

"He bowed the heavens also, and came down." As in a tempest the clouds come nearer to the earth, and from the mountains to the valleys, so the psalmist adopts this figure peculiar to such occasions as described God's near approach to judgment (Psalm 144:5, etc.; Hebrews 3:6); "and darkness was under his feet." We have here the increase of the horrors of the tempest, and its still nearer approach, but God is not yet revealed, it is darkness under his feet. Thick darkness was the accompaniment of God's descent on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:21; Deuteronomy 4:11): and it invests his throne, to veil from us the overwhelming majesty of deity. Psalm 97:2. But this darkness, while it hides his coming judgment, bespeaks sorrow and anguish to the objects of his wrath. Luke 21:25, 26. —W. Wilson, in loc.

Verses 9-11: —

"He also bowed the heavens,

And thence he did descend;

And thickest clouds of darkness did

Under his feet attend.

And he upon a cherub rode,

And thereon he did fly;

Yea, on the swift wings of the wind,

His flight was from on high.

He darkness made his secret place;

About him for his tent

Dark waters were, and thickest clouds

Of the airy firmament." Scotch Version, 1649.

Verses 9-12: —

"In his descent, bow'd heaven with earth did meet,

And gloomy darkness roll'd beneath his feet;

A golden winged cherub he bestrid,

And on the swiftly flying tempest rid.

He darkness made his secret cabinet;

Thick fogs and dropping clouds about him set;

The beams of his bright presence these expel,

Whence showers of burning coals and hailstones fell." George Sandys, 1577-1643.

"Cherub." The Hebrew name hath affinity with Rechub, a chariot, used in Psalm 104:3, almost in like sense as "cherub" is here; and the cherubims are called a chariot, 1 Chronicles 28:18; and God's angels are his chariots, Psalm 68:18, and they seem to be meant in this place; for as angels are said to fly, Daniel 9:21; so the cherubims had wings, Exodus 25:20, and are by the apostle called "cherubims of glory," Hebrews 9:5. In Psalm 80:2, God is said "to sit on the cherubims," as here, to ride; and "a cherub" may be put for many, or all the cherubims, as chariot for chariots, Psalm 68:18. —Henry Ainsworth.

"Cherubs." The "cherub" with the countenances of man, the lion, the bull, and the eagle (combining in itself, as it were, the intelligence, majesty, strength, and life of nature), was a symbol of the powers of nature. When powerful elements, as in a storm, are serving God, he is said to "ride on a cherub." —Augustus F. Tholuck.

"Cherub." —

"He on the wings of cherub rode sublime

On the crystalline sky." John Milton.

When God comes to punish his foes and rescue his people, nothing has ever surprised his friends or foes more than the admirable swiftness with which he moves and acts: He flies "upon the wings of the wind." —William S. Plumer.

Every circumstance that can add to the splendour of Jehovah's descent upon his enemies is thrown into the narrative by the inspired poet. It is not enough that the heavens should bend beneath him, and that clouds of darkness should be seen rolling, in terrible majesty, under his feet; cherubic legions also are the willing supporters of his throne, and swift as air, he flies "upon the wings of the wind." Into this amazing scene the awful appendages of the mercy-seat are introduced; on the bending heavens, the cloudy chariot rides sublime, and the winds of heaven bear it majestically along. —J. Morison.

"Coals of fire." The word signifies, living burning coals. Where the lightning fell, it devoured all before it, and burned whatever it touched into burning embers. —Samuel Chandler.

"Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them," etc. O that you who are now strangers to God would but consider these things! O that you would but think what this battle may be, where the combatants are so unequal! Stand still, O sun, in the valley of Ajalon, till the Lord have avenged him of his enemies! Muster yourselves, O ye stars, and fight in your courses against those miserable sinners that have waged war against their Maker; plant your mighty cannons, shoot down huge hailstones, arrows of fire, and hot thunderbolts! Oh, how do the wounded fall! How many are the slain of the Lord, multitudes in the Valley of Decision, for the day of the Lord is terrible. Behold God's enemies falling by thousands, behold the garments rolling in blood, hear the prancing of his terrible ones, the mountains are covered with horses and chariots of fire. God's soldiers run from one place to another with their flaming swords in their hands, armed with the justice of God, jealousy, power, and indignation! Oh, the dreadful slaughter that is made! Millions, millions fall; they are not able to stand; not one of them can lift up his hand; their hearts fail them; paleness and trembling hath seized upon the stoutest of them all. The bow of the Lord is strong; from the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of the Lord turneth not back, the sword of the Almighty returns not empty. How do the mighty ones fall in this battle! A hot battle indeed, in which none escape! Who is he that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? He that is glorious in his apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth the wine fat? I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and I will bring down their strength to the earth: the hand of the Lord shall be known, the power of the mighty Jehovah shall be felt, and his indignation toward his enemies. For behold he will come with fire and with chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire; for by fire and by his sword will he plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many, and the saints shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup! This it is to fight against God! This it is to defy the Lord of Hosts! —James Janeway.

"He shot out his lightnings." (Heb.) LXX astrapus eplhyune. Falgura multiplicavit: Vulgate, and so all the versions. He multiplied his thunderbolts; or, shot them out thick one after another; as the word properly signifies. (Heb.) And discomfited them, as we render the word; or rather, as I think it should be translated, and melted them; namely, the heavens. —Samuel Chandler.

Verse 14 (last clause). It is written, "destroyed them," because the Holy Ghost would not so much as name, by the mouth of his prophet, the evil spirits to whom he refers. —Euthymius Zigabenus (1125) quoted by J. M. Neale.

"The foundations of the world were discovered;" i.e., such large and deep chasms, or apertures, were made by the violence of the earthquake, as one might almost see the very foundations, or as Jonah calls them, the bottoms, or rather, the extremities of the mountains, in the bottom of the sea. Jonah 2:6. —Samuel Chandler.

The Lord interposed with the same notoriety of his presence, as when the waters of the sea were driven back by a strong east wind, and the deep turned into dry ground (Exodus 14:21, 22), to give the Israelites a safe passage out of their thraldom, and to drown the Egyptians. —Henry Hammond.

"He sent from above," etc. He "sent" angels, or assistance otherwise. —Matthew Poole.

He took." God's grasp cannot be broken. None can pluck his chosen out of his hand. —William S. Plumer.

"Drew me out of many waters." This hath reference to Moses' case, who was "drawn out of the water," and thereupon called Mosheh (Exodus 2:10); that word Mashah is used here by David, and nowhere else in Scripture. "Waters," signify troubles, and sometimes multitudes of people. —H. Ainsworth.

"They prevented me in the day of my calamity;" i.e., came on me suddenly, unawares, when I was unprovided and helpless, and must have destroyed me had not God upheld and supported me when I was in danger of perishing. God was to the psalmist (Heb.), for a staff to support him. What the staff is to one that is ready to fall, the means of recovering and preserving him; that was God to David in the time of his extremity. For he several times preserved him from Saul, when he, David, thought his destruction by him almost unavoidable. See 1 Samuel 23:26, 27. —Samuel Chandler.

"They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay." When Henry the Eighth had spoken and written bitterly against Luther; said Luther, Tell the Henries, the bishops, the Turks, and the devil himself, do what they can, we are the children of the kingdom, worshipping of the true God, whom they, and such as they, spit upon and crucified. And of the same spirit were many martyrs. Basil affirms of the primitive saints, that they had so much courage and confidence in their sufferings, that many of the heathen seeing their heroic zeal and constancy, turned Christians. —Charles Bradbury.

Verse 20 "The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the clearness of my hands hath he recompensed me." We must stand our ground, and be stiff for ourselves against all misjudgings. It is good to be zealously affected always in a good matter, whether it respects the glory of God immediately and alone, or whether it respects the credit of our brethren or our own. To desire to be famous in the world, and as those giants in the old world (Genesis 6:4), men of renown, or, as the original text hath it, men of name, is a very great vanity; but to protect and preserve our good name is a great and necessary duty. —Joseph Caryl.

Verse 21 "I have not wickedly departed from my God;" that is, with a purpose and resolution of heart to continue in a way of sinning; and that is the property of sincerity. A man may indeed be overtaken and surprised by a temptation, but it is not with a resolution to forsake God and to cleave unto the sin, or rest in it. He will not sleep in it, spare it, or favour it; that is, to do wickedly against God, to have a double heart and a double eye; to look upon two objects, partly at God and partly at sin; so to keep God, as to keep some sin also, as it is with all false-hearted men in the world. They look not upon God alone, let them pretend to religion never so much, yet they look not unto God alone, but upon something else together with God; as Herod regarded John, but regarded his Herodias more; and the young man in the gospel, comes to Christ, yet he looks after his estate; and Judas followed Christ, yet looks after the bag; this is to depart wickedly from God. —William Strong, 1650.

Verse 21 (last clause). Although a godly man may break a particular commandment again and again against knowledge, yet his knowledge never suffers him to go so far as to venture knowingly to break the covenant of grace with God, and to depart from him; when he hath gone on so far in a sin as he comes to apprehend he must break with God, and lose him if he goes any further, this apprehension stays him, stops and brings him back again; he may presumptuously venture (though seldom; and always to his cost) to commit an act of sin against knowledge, because he may withal think, that by one act the covenant is not broken, nor all friendship and love hazarded between God and him, nor his interest in the state of grace, nor God, quite lost by it, though he may well think he would be displeased with him; but if he should begin to allow himself in it, and to continue to go on again and again in it, then he knows the covenant would be broken, it cannot stand with grace; and when this apprehension comes, and comes in strongly, he cannot sin against it, for this were to cast away the Lord, and to depart wickedly from him, now so he doth not. So David, though he sinned highly and presumptuously, yet says he, "I have not departed wickedly from my God;" that is, I have not so far departed from him as though I apprehended I should utterly lose my interest in him, yet I would go on. No; for he is my God, there lies the consideration that kept him from departing from him. So Psalm 44:17, "We have not dealt falsely in thy covenant," says the church there. Many acts of displeasing him may pass and be ventured, but if the holy soul thinks that the covenant lay at stake, that he and God must utterly part and break off, thus far he will never go. —Thomas Goodwin.

An unsound soul will not take notice of such a precept as opposeth his special sin; such a precept must go for a blank, which the soul throws by, and will not think of, but as conscience now and then puts him in mind of it, whether he will or no. But it is not so with a man in whom sincerity is; that precept which doth most oppose that sin to which he is most inclined, he labours to obey as well as any other. An unsound soul sets so many of God's statutes before him, as rules to walk by, as suits with himself and the times, and no more. Such precepts as oppose his special corruptions, or displease the times, and so expose him to suffering, these he baulks and puts away, as David here saith, and calls them as the rotten Scribes and Pharisees were wont to do, "least commandments," small things not to be regarded; which rottenness Christ took up roundly in those ironical words, "Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, shall be called the least in the kingdom of God." Godly sincerity makes no difference of greatest and least between the precepts of God, but sets all before a man as a rule to walk by, and makes the soul laborious to observe all. "Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments." Psalm 119:6. —Nicholas Lockyer, 1649.

An unsound soul will not take notice of such a precept as opposeth his special sin; such a precept must go for a blank, which the soul throws by, and will not think of, but as conscience now and then puts him in mind of it, whether he will or no. But it is not so with a man in whom sincerity is; that precept which doth most oppose that sin to which he is most inclined, he labours to obey as well as any other. An unsound soul sets so many of God's statutes before him, as rules to walk by, as suits with himself and the times, and no more. Such precepts as oppose his special corruptions, or displease the times, and so expose him to suffering, these he baulks and puts away, as David here saith, and calls them as the rotten Scribes and Pharisees were wont to do, "least commandments," small things not to be regarded; which rottenness Christ took up roundly in those ironical words, "Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, shall be called the least in the kingdom of God." Godly sincerity makes no difference of greatest and least between the precepts of God, but sets all before a man as a rule to walk by, and makes the soul laborious to observe all. "Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments." Psalm 119:6. —Nicholas Lockyer, 1649.

"I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity." He who says, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart;" and who by the apostle in the tenth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, is identified with Jesus Christ, says also (verse 12), "innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of mine head; therefore mine heart faileth me;" and in the forty-first psalm, "He whose familiar friend, to whom he had committed a trust, who ate of his bread, lifted up his heel against him," whom our Lord in the thirteenth chapter of the gospel of John identifies with himself, says (verse 4), "Lord, be merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned;" I am guilty "before thee." The difficulty is removed by the undoubtedly true principle —the principle which, above all others, gives Christianity its peculiar character —"He who knew no sin, was made sin;" "On his righteous servant, Jehovah made to fall the iniquities of us all." In this sense, "innumerable iniquities compassed him," the iniquities made to fall on him —made "his" as to their liabilities —by divine appointment laid hold of him. In the sense of culpa —blame-worthiness —he had no sin. In the sense of reatus —liability to the penal effects of sin —never had any one so much sin to bear as he —"He bore the sins of many." —John Brown.

"I was upright before him." Hence observe: —first, that a godly man may have his heart upright and perfect even in the imperfection of his ways. Secondly, a man that is sincere is in God's account a perfect man: sincerity is the truth of all grace, the highest pitch that is to be attained here. Thirdly, sincerity of heart gives a man boldness even in the presence of God, notwithstanding many failings. The Lord doth "charge his angels with folly," how much more man that "dwells in a house of clay"? Job 4. David, whose faith failed, and who had said, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul," and whose tongue had faltered also to Abimelech, the priest; three or four several lies he had told; yet David can say to God, that he was perfect with him for all that. It is a strange boldness that the saints have in the presence of God by virtue of the new covenant. All their sins shall be laid open at the last day as a cancelled bond, that they wonder how they shall look upon them and not blush; but the same spirit of sonship that shall give them perfect boldness then, doth give them boldness in a great measure even now in this life; that they shall be able to say, "Neither height not depth," etc., nothing "shall separate us from the love of Christ." —William Strong.

"I was upright." etc. An upright Christian will not allow himself in any known sin; he dares not touch the forbidden fruit. Genesis 39:9. "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Though it be a complexion-sin, he disinherits it. There is no man but doth propend and incline more to one sin than another; as in the body there is one humour predominant, or as in the hive there is one master-bee; so in the heart there is one master-sin; there is one sin which is not only near to a man as the garment, but dear to him as the right eye. This sin is Satan's fort-royal, all his strength lies here; and though we beat down his out-works, gross sin, yet if we let him hold this fort of complexion-sin, it is as much as he desires. The devil can hold a man as fast by this one link, as by a whole chain of vices. The fowler hath the bird fast enough by one wing. Now, an upright Christian will not indulge himself in this complexion-sin: "I was upright before him, and kept myself from mine iniquity." An upright Christian takes the sacrificing knife of mortification, and runs it through his dearest sin. Herod did many things, but there was one sin so dear to him, that he would sooner behead the prophet, than behead that sin. Herod would have a gap for his incest. An upright heart is not only angry with sin (which may admit of reconciliation), but hates sin; and if he sees this serpent creeping into his bosom, the nearer it is the more he hates it. —Thomas Watson.

"I kept myself." Keep himself! Who made man his own keeper! It's the Lord that is his keeper: he is the keeper of Israel, and the preserver of man. If a man cannot keep himself from sorrow, how is he able to keep himself from sin? God indeed in our first conversion works upon us as he did upon the earth, or Adam's body in paradise, before he breathed a soul into it, and made it a living creature; such a power as Christ put forth on Lazarus in his grave, for we are "dead in trespasses and sins;" but yet being living he must walk and act of himself, the Lord will have us to co-operate together with him, for we are built upon Christ, not as dead, but as "living stones." 1 Peter 2:5. The grace whereby we are made alive is his, and the power is his; and yet by his grace we do it also; ille facit ut nos faciamus, quae praecepit (Augustine). —William Strong.

"I kept myself from mine iniquity." It is possible to keep ourselves from such sins as David did; who professes here of himself great sincerity, that he had kept himself from that iniquity to which he was strongly tempted, and which he was prone to fall into. The method which holy David made use of gives us the first and the best direction; and that is, by constant and fervent prayer to implore the divine aid and the continual assistance of his Holy Spirit, that God would not only keep us from falling into them, but even turn our hearts from inclining to them, and help us to see our folly and our danger. For alas! we are not able of ourselves to help ourselves, not so much as to think a good thought, much less to resist an evil inclination, or a strong temptation; but "our sufficiency is of God:" "It is God (says the psalmist here), that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect:" verse 32. . . . Next, that we take care to avoid such things and decline such occasions as are most likely to snare us and gain upon us, lest one thing hook in another, and we be caught in the gin before we suspect the danger. —Henry Dove, 1690.

"Mine iniquity." A man's darling sin may change with the change of a man's condition, and some occasion that may present itself. What was Saul's and Jehu's sin before they came into the crown we know not; but surely it was wherein their lust did afterwards run out —the establishing a kingdom upon their posterity. Wantonness may be the darling of a man's youth, and worldliness the darling of his age; and a man's being raised unto honour, and having the opportunities that he had not in times past, the lust may run in another channel, he having now such an opportunity as before he never expected. —William Strong.

"Mine iniquity." There is some particular sin to which one is more prone than to another, of which he may say by way of emphasis, 'tis "mine iniquity," at which he may point with his finger, and say, "That's it." . . . . There are more temptations to some sins than others, from the different professions or courses of life men take upon themselves. If they follow the court I need not tell you what temptations and snares there are to divers sins, and what danger there is of falling into them, unless your vows for virtue, and a tender regard to the honour which cometh of God only, keep you upright. If they be listed in the camp, that tempts them to rapine and violence, neglect of God's worship, and profaneness. If they exercise trading and merchandise, they meet with greater enticements to lying and cozening, over-reaching, and unjust dealing; and the mystery of some trades, as bad men manage them, is a downright "mystery of iniquity." If husbandry, to anxiety about the things of the world, a distrust of God's providence, or murmuring against it. Nay, I could wish in the most sacred profession of all there might be an exception made in this particular; but Paul tells us that even in his days "some preached Christ even of envy and strife," some for filthy lucre only, as well as "some of good will." Philippians 1:15. —Henry Dove.

"Mine iniquity." The actual reign of sin is commonly of some particular master-lust, which is as the viceroy over all the rest of the sins in the soul, and commands them all as lord paramount, and makes them all subservient and subordinate unto it; and this is according to custom, calling, constitution, abilities, relations, and according to the different administrations of the Spirit of God; for though God be not the author of sin, yet he is the orderer of sin. So that it is that way of sin and death that a man chooseth to himself, he having looked abroad upon all the contentments of the world, his own corrupt inclination doth choose unto himself to follow with greatest sweetness and contentment and delight, as that wherein the happiness of his life consists; that as in the body there is in every one some predominant humour, so there is in the body of sin also; that as the natural man, though there be all the faculties, yet some faculties are in some more lively and vigorous than in others, some are more witty, some are more strong, some quick of sight, some have a ready ear, and others a nimble tongue, etc. So it is in the old man also; there is all the power of sin in an unregenerate man, but in some more dexterous one way than another; as men in the choice of calling, some have a greater inclination to one thing than to another, so it is in the choice of contentments also: as in the appetite for food, so it is in lust, being nothing else but the appetite of the creature corrupted to some sinful object. —William Strong.

Growth in mortification. . . . Men may deceive themselves when they estimate their progress herein by having overcome such lusts as their natures are not so prone unto. The surest way is to take a judgment of it from the decay of a man's bosom-sin, even as David did estimate his uprightness by his "keeping himself from his iniquity;" so a man of his growth in uprightness. When physicians would judge of a consumption of the whole, they do it not by the falling away of any part whatever, as of the flesh in the face alone, or any the like; such a particular abatement of flesh in some one part may come from some other cause; but they use to judge by the falling away of the brawn of the hands, or arms and thighs, etc., for these are the more solid parts. The like judgments do physicians make upon other diseases, and of the abatement of them from the decrease in such symptoms as are pathognomical, and proper, and peculiar to them. In like manner also the estimate of the progress of the victories of a conqueror in an enemy's kingdom is not taken from the taking or burning of a few villages or dorps, but by taking the forts and strongest holds, and by what ground he hath won upon the chief strength, and by what forces he hath cut off of the main army. Do the like in the decrease of, and victory over, your lusts. —Thomas Goodwin.

We must remember always that though the grace of God prevents us, that we may have a good will, and works in us when we have it, that so we may find success; yet in vain do we expect the continuance of his help without diligent endeavours. Whilst he assists our weakness, he does not intend to encourage our laziness, and therefore we are also "to labour, and strive according to his working, which worketh in us mightily," as the apostle expresses it, Colossians 1:29. —Henry Dove.

As you may see a proportion between sins and punishments which are the rewards of them, that you can say, Such a sin brought forth this affliction, it is so like the father; so you might see the like proportion between your prayers and your walking with God, and God's answers to you, and his dealings with you. So did David; "According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me," etc. His speech notes some similitude or likeness; as, for example, the more by-ends or carnal desires you had in praying, and the more you mingled of these with your holy desires, and the more want of zeal, fervency, etc., were found in your prayers, the more you shall, it may be, find of bitterness mingled with the mercy, when it is granted, and so much imperfection, and want of comfort in it. So says David in this same Psalm (verses 25, 26), "With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure." Pure prayers have pure "blessings; et à contra, "With the froward thou wilt show thyself froward." And again, as you in praying sometimes slackened and grew cold, so you might see the business in like manner to cool, and cast backward; as, When Moses's hands were down, Amalek prevailed; but when they were lifted up, Israel had the better. Exodus 17:12. God let him see a proportion, which argued his prayer was the means of prevailing. A man finds in praying that his suit sometimes sticks, and goes not on as he expected; this is because he gives not so good a fee as he was wont, and doth not ply God and solicit him; but on the contrary, when he was stirred up to pray, then still he found things to go well. By this a man may clearly see that it was the prayer which God did hear and regarded. Thus, likewise, when a man sees hills and dales in a business, fair hopes often, and then all dashed again, and the thing in the end brought to pass, let him look back upon his prayers. Didst not thou in like manner just thus deal with God? when thou hadst prayed earnestly, and thought thou hadst even carried it, then dash all again by interposing some sin, and thus again and again? Herein God would have you observe a proportion, and it may help you to discern how and when they are answered and obtained by prayer, because God deals thus with you therein in such proportion to your prayers. —Thomas Goodwin.

Even as the sun, which, unto eyes being sound and without disease, is very pleasant and wholesome, but unto the same eyes, when they are feeble, sore, and weak, is very troublesome and hurtful, yet the sun is ever all one and the selfsame that was before; so God, who hath ever shown himself benign and bountiful to those who are kind and tender-hearted towards his saints, and are merciful to those who show mercy. But unto the same men, when they fall into wickedness and grow to be full of beastly cruelty, the Lord showeth himself to be very wrathful and angry, and yet is one and the same immutable God from everlasting to everlasting. —Robert Cawdray.

"With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright." "An upright" —the same word is oft translated "perfect," he is good throughout, though not thoroughly; not one that personates religion, but that is a religious person. He is perfect, because he would be so. So Noah is termed (Genesis 6:9); "Noah was a just man and perfect (i.e., upright) in his generation:" he was a good man in a bad age. He was like a glowing spark of fire in a sea of water, which is perfect goodness; and therefore the Holy Ghost doth so hang upon his name, as if he could not give over —it is an excellent preacher's observation —verse 8, "But Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah: Noah begat three sons." Noah, Noah, Noah, I love the sound of thy name; and so are all your names precious to God, though hated by men, if the name of God be dear and sweet to you. 'Tis also sometimes translated "plain." Genesis 25:27. Jacob was (Hebrew), "a plain," that is, an upright man, "dwelling in tents." Esau was "a cunning hunter," but Jacob was a plain man without welt or gard; you might well know his heart by his tongue, save once when Rebekah put a cunning trick into his head, otherwise he was a most "upright," downright man. And the plain meaning of it is, a simple, cordial, unfeigned, and exact man: this is the man we are looking for. "Man." This substansive the Hebrews use to drown in the adjective, but here the Holy Ghost exhibits a word, and a choice one too, signifying a strong, valiant man; the same word (Psalm 45:3), "O mighty man!" that's meant of our Lord Christ, who was a most strong and valiant man, that could meet the wrath of God, the malice of the devil, and the sin of man, in the face, and come off with triumph. And so the Dutch translate this clause in 2 Samuel 22.: "With the right valiant person, thou behavest thyself upright." In short, if the words were literally translated, they run thus: —a man of uprightness: that is, every way you behold him, an upright man: like an even die, cast him which way you will he will be found square and right; a stiff and strong man to tread down both lusts within and temptations without; an Athanasius contra mundum, a Luther contra Roman; this is a man of an excellent spirit, and such is our upright man. "Thou wilt shew thyself upright," or, "wilt be upright with him;" for one word in the Hebrew makes all these six, "Thou wilt upright it with him." If men will deal plainly with God, he will deal plainly with them. He that is upright in performing his duty shall find God upright in performing his promises. It is God's way to carry to men as they carry to him. If thou hast a design to please him, he will have a design to please thee; if thou wilt echo to him when he calls, he'll echo to thee when thou callest. On the other side; if a man will wrestle with God, he will wrestle with him; if thou wilt be fast and loose with him, and walk frowardly towards him, thou shalt have as good as thou bringest; if thou wilt provoke him with never-ending sins, he will pursue thee with never-ending torments; if thou wilt sin in tuo eterno, thou must suffer in suo eterno, and every man shall find like for like. . . . An upright heart is single without division. Unto an hypocrite there be "gods many and lords many," and he must have an heart for each; but to the upright there is but one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, and one heart will serve them both. He that fixes his heart upon the creatures, for every creature he must have an heart, and the dividing of his heart destroys him. Hosea 10:2. Worldly profits knock at the door, he must have an heart for them; carnal pleasures present themselves, he must have an heart for them also; sinful preferments appear, they must have an heart too —Necessariorum numerus parvus, opinionum nullus; of necessary objects the number is few, of needless vanities the number is endless. The upright man hath made choice of God and hath enough. —Richard Steele.

"With the merciful," etc. In Jupiter's hall-floor there are set two barrels of gifts, the one of good gifts or blessings, the other of evil gifts or plagues. Thus spake Homer falsely of Jupiter; it may truly be spoken of the true God, Jehovah; that he hath in his hand two cups, the one of comforts, the other of crosses, which he poureth out indifferently for the good and for the bad; "with the kind (or merciful) he will shew himself kind, and with the froward, froward." Now this is not to make God the author of evil, but of justice, which is good; qrorum deus non est author eorum est justus ultor, saith Augustine; "God is not the author of sin, but he punisheth the sinner justly." —Miles Smith (Bishop), 1632.

"With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure," etc. But doth the Lord take colour from every one he meets, or change his temper as the company changes? That's the weakness of sinful man: he cannot do so with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of changing. God is pure and upright with the unclean and hypocritical, as well as with the pure and upright, and his actions show him to be so. God shows himself froward with the froward when he deals with him as he hath said he will deal with the froward —deny them and reject them. God shows himself pure with the pure, when he deals with them as he hath said he will —hear them and accept them. Though there be nothing in purity and sincerity which deserveth mercy, yet we cannot expect mercy without them. Our comforts are not grounded upon our graces, but our comforts are the fruits or consequences of our graces. —Joseph Caryl.

"The froward one." Here, as in the first promise, the two combatants stand contrasted —the seed of the woman and the serpent — the benignantly bountiful, perfect, pure One, and the froward one, whose works he came to destroy, and who made it his great business to circumvent him whom he feared. The literal meaning of the word is "tortuous," or "crooked," and both the ideas of perversity and cunning which the figure naturally suggests, are very applicable to "that old serpent the devil." From the concluding part of the sentence, I think there is no doubt that it is the latter idea that is intended to be conveyed. God cannot deal perversely with any one; but he outwits the wise, and takes the cunning in their own craftiness. —John Brown.

"With the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward." The Hebrew word in the root signifieth to wrest or writhe a thing, or to wrest or turn a thing, as wrestlers do their bodies. Hence by a trope, it is translated often to wrestle, because a cunning man in wrestling, turneth and windeth his body, and works himself in and out every way, to get an advantage of his adversary any way; therefore your cunning-headed men, your crafty men, are fitly presented under this word; they are like wrestlers who turn and wind themselves in and out, and lie for all advantages; or as we speak, they "lie at catch." A man knows not where to have them, or what they mean when they speak plainest, or swear solemnest; when we think we see their faces, we see but their vizards; all their promises and performances too are under a disguise. . . . And this word is applied to the Lord himself, "With the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward;" that is, if men will be winding and turning, and thinking to catch others, or over-reach the Lord himself with tricks and turnings of wit, the Lord will meet and answer them in their own kind; he can turn as fast as they, he can put himself into such intricate labyrinths of infinite wisdom and sacred craft, as shall entangle and ensnare the most cunning wrestler or tumbler of them all. He will Cretize the Cretians, supplant the supplanters of his people. —Joseph Caryl.

"Wilt shew thyself froward." It is a similitude taken from wrestlers, and noteth a writhing of one's self against an adversary. Compare herewith Deuteronomy 32:5. "They are a perverse and a crooked generation," the same two words that are here in this text; the latter importeth that they wriggled and writhed after the manner of wrestlers that wave up and down, and wind the other way, when one thinks to have him here or there. But all will not serve their turn to save them from punishment. God will be sure to meet with them, his Word will lay hold on them, and their sins shall find them out. —John Trapp.

"The afflicted people." The word rendered "afflicted," properly signifies "poor," or "needy." The persons spoken of are obviously afflicted ones, for they need to be saved or delivered; but it is not their affliction, so much as their poverty, that is indicated by the epithet here given them; and, from the poor being contrasted, not with the wealthy, but with the proud —for that is the meaning of the figurative expression, "the man of high looks" —it seems plain that, though the great body of the class referred to have always been found among the comparatively "poor in this world," the reference is to those poor ones whom our Lord represents as "poor in spirit." —John Brown.

"High looks:" namely, the proud; the raising up of the eyebrows being a natural sign of that vice. Psalm 101:5; Proverbs 6:17. —John Diodati.

"For thou wilt light my candle," etc. The psalmist speaks in this place of artificial light; "a candle," or "lamp;" which has been supposed to be illustrated by the custom prevailing in Egypt of never suffering their houses to be without lights, but burning lamps even throughout the night, so that the poorest people would rather retrench part of their food than neglect it. Supposing this to have been the ancient custom, not only in Egypt, but in the neighbouring countries of Arabia and Judaea, "the lighting of the lamp" in this passage may have had a special allusion. In the parallel passage, 2 Samuel 22:29, Jehovah is figuratively styled the "lamp" of the psalmist, as above. —Richard Mant.

Verse 28 (first clause). "Thou also shalt" —when none else can. And notice, too, how here, and often elsewhere, the psalmist begins with speaking of God, and ends with speaking to him. So the bride in the Canticles, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine." —Dionysius the Carthusian (1471), quoted by J. M. Neale.

"By thee have I run through a troop," etc. David ascribes his victories to God, declaring that, under his conduct, he had broken through the wedges or phalanxes of his enemies, and had taken by storm their fortified cities. Thus we see that, although he was a valiant warrior, and skilled in arms, he arrogates nothing to himself. —John Calvin.

"By my God have I leaped over a wall;" or, "taken a fort." —Henry Hammond.

"Leaped over a wall." This probably refers to his having taken some remarkable town by scaling the ramparts. —John Kitto, in "The Pictorial Bible."

"For who is God save the Lord?" Here first in the Psalms, occurs the name Eloah, rendered God. It occurs more than fifty times in the Scriptures, but only four times in the Psalms. It is the singular of Elohim. Many have supposed that this name specially refers to God as an object of religious worship. That idea may well be prominent in this place. —William S. Plumer

"It is God that girdeth me with strength." One of the few articles of Eastern dress which I wore in the East, was the girdle, which was of great use as a support to the body in the long and weary camel-rides through the Desert. The support and strengthening I received in this way, gave me a clearer idea than I had before of the meaning of the psalmist. —John Anderson, in "Bible Light from Bible Lands," 1856.

"He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places:" that is, he doth give swiftness and speed to his church; as Augustine interpreteth it, transcendendo spinosa, et umbrosa implacamenta hujus saeculi, passing lightly through the thorny and shady incumbrances of this world. "He will make me walk upon my high places." David saith, "He setteth me upon high places." For, consider David, as he then was, when he composed this Psalm, it was at the time when God had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. For then God set his feet on high places, setting his kingdom, and establishing him in the place of Saul. —Edward Marbury.

"He maketh my feet like hinds' feet:" (Heb. words). Celerity of motion was considered as one of the qualities of an ancient hero. Achilles is celebrated for being podas wkus. Virgil's Nisus is hyperbolically described, "Et ventis et fulminis ocior alis;" and the men of God, who came to David, "Men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler," are said to have had "faces like the faces of lions," and to have been "as swift as the roes upon the mountains." 1 Chronicles 12:8. Asahel is described as "light of foot as a wild roe" (2 Samuel 2:18); and Saul seems called the roe (in the English translation, "the beauty) of Israel." 2 Samuel 1:19. It has been said that the legs of the hind are straighter than those of the buck, and that she is swifter than he is; but there is no sufficient proof of this. Gataker gives the true account of it when he says, "The female formula is often used for the species." This is not uncommon in Hebrew. The female ass obviously stands for the ass species. Genesis 12:16; Job 1:3; 42:12. Some (at the head of whom is Bochart, Hierozoicon, P. i. L. ii. c. 17), have supposed the reference to be to the peculiar hardness of the hoof of the roe, which enables it to walk firmly, without danger of falling, on the roughest and rockiest places. Virgil calls the hind "aeri-pedem," brass-footed. Others suppose the reference to be to its agility and celerity. There is nothing to prevent our supposing that there is reference to both these distinguishing qualities of the hind's feet. —John Brown.

He maketh my feet like hinds' feet," etc. He maketh me able to stand on the sides of mountains and rocks, which were anciently used as fastnesses in time of war. The feet of the sheep, the goat, and the hart are particularly adapted to standing in such places. Mr. Merrick has here very appositely cited the following passage from Xenophon; Lib. de Venatione: Epiokupein dei econta tus kunas tas men en oredi edtwdas 'lafouz) See also Psalm 104:18, where the same property of standing on the rocks and steep cliffs, is attributed to the wild goat. —Stephen Street, M.A., in loc., 1790.

"He teacheth my hands to war," etc. To him I owe all that military skill, or strength, or courage, which I have. My strength is sufficient, not only to bend "a bow of steel," but to break it. —Matthew Poole.

"Steel." The word so rendered in the authorised version, properly means "copper" (Heb.) It is doubtful if the Hebrews were acquainted with the process of hardening iron into steel, for though the "northern iron" of Jeremiah 15:12, has been supposed by some to be steel, this is by no means certain; it may have only been a superior sort of iron. —William Lindsay Alexander, in "Kitto's Cyclopaedia."

The drawing of a mighty bow was a mark of great slaughter and skill.

"So the great master drew the mighty bow,

And drew with ease. One hand aloft display'd

The bending horns, and one the string essay'd." Alexander Pope, 1688-1744 Translation of Homer.

Verses 37, 38: —

Oh, I have seen the day,

When with a single word,

God helping me to say,

"My trust is in the Lord;"

My soul has quelled a thousand foes,

Fearless of all that could oppose. William Cowper, 1731-1800.

"I have wounded them," etc. Greater is he that is in us than he that is against us, and God shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly. Romans 15:20. —W. Wilson

Though passion possess our bodies, let "patience possess our souls." The law of our profession binds us to a warfare; patiendo vincimus, our troubles shall end, our victory is eternal. Hear David's triumph, "I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. Thou hast given me the necks of mine enemies," etc. They have wounds for their wounds; and the treaders down of the poor are trodden down by the poor. The Lord will subdue those to us that would have subdued us to themselves; and though for a short time they rode over our heads, yet now at last we shall everlastingly tread upon their necks. Lo, then, the reward of humble patience and confident hope! —Thomas Adams.

To be well girt was to be well armed in the Greek and Latin idioms, as well as in the Hebrew. —Alexander Geddes, LL.D., 1737-1802.

"They shall cry, but there shall be none to help them," etc. Sad examples enough there are of the truth of this prophecy. Of Esau it is written that he "found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." Hebrews 12:17. Of Antiochus, though he vowed in his last illness, "that also he would become a Jew himself, and go through all the world that was inhabited, and declare the power of God, yet," continues the historian, "for all this his pains would not cease, for the just judgment of God was come upon him." 2 Maccabees 9:17, 18. But most appropriately to this passage, it is written of Saul, "When he enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." 1 Samuel 28:6. And therefore, the prophet warns us: "Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains (Jeremiah 13:16): as Saul's feet, indeed stumbled on the dark mountains of Gilboa. "Even unto the Lord shall they cry:" but not, as it has been well remarked, by a Mediator: and so, crying to him in their own name, and by their own merits, they cry in vain. —John Lorinus (1569-1634), and Remigus (900), quoted by J. M. Neale.

"Even unto the Lord." As nature prompteth men in an extremity to look up for help; but because it is but the prayer of the flesh for ease, and not of the Spirit for grace, and a good use of calamities, and not but in extreme despair of help elsewhere, therefore God hears them not. In Samuel it is, "They looked, but there was none to save them," q.d., If they could have made any other shift, God should never have heard of them. —John Trapp.

"I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets," or rather "of the streets." In the East, all household refuse and filth is cast forth into the streets, where all of it that is at all edible is soon cleared away by birds and dogs, and all that is not is speedily dried up by the sun. To cast forth any one, therefore, as the dirt of the streets, is a strong image of contempt and rejection. —John Kitto.

If these words can be explained literally of David, they apply much more naturally to Jesus Christ, who has been delivered from the strivings of the Jewish people; when, after the terrible opposition he met with on their part, to the establishment of the gospel, he was made the head of the Gentiles who were a strange people, and whom he had not formerly acknowledged as his, but who nevertheless obeyed him with astonishing readiness as soon as they heard his voice. —Louis Isaac le Maistre de Sacy, 1613-1684.

If these words can be explained literally of David, they apply much more naturally to Jesus Christ, who has been delivered from the strivings of the Jewish people; when, after the terrible opposition he met with on their part, to the establishment of the gospel, he was made the head of the Gentiles who were a strange people, and whom he had not formerly acknowledged as his, but who nevertheless obeyed him with astonishing readiness as soon as they heard his voice. —Louis Isaac le Maistre de Sacy, 1613-1684.

The first clause is comparatively easy. "The strangers shall fade away" —"shall gradually wither and disappear;" but the second clause is very difficult, "They shall be afraid out of their close places." One Jewish scholar interprets it, "They shall fear for the prisons in which I will throw them and keep them confined." (Jarchi). Another, "They shall tremble in their castles to which they have betaken themselves for fear of me." Another (Abenezra), "They shall surrender themselves from their fortresses." The general meaning is plain enough. The class referred to are represented as reduced to a state of complete helpless subjugation. As to the event referred to, if we keep to the rendering of our translators the meaning may be, "The Pagans, retired now generally to villages and remote places, shall gradually dwindle away, and fearfully anticipate the complete extinction of their religion." This exactly accords with history. If with some interpreters we read, "The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid because of their prisons," then the meaning may be, "that they who only feigned submission, when persecution for the word should arise should openly apostatise." This, too, would be found consonant with fact. The first of these interpretations seems the more probable. —John Brown.

"The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted." Let us unite our hearts in this song for a close of our praises. Honours die,pleasures die, the world dies; but "The Lord liveth." My flesh is as sand; my fleshly life, strength, glory, is as a word written on sand; but "blessed be my ROCK." Those are for a moment; this stands for ever. The curse shall devour those; everlasting blessings on the head of this. Let outward salvations vanish; let the saved be crucified; let the "God" of our salvations "be exalted." This Lord is my rock; this God is my salvation. —Peter Sterry, 1649.

"The Lord liveth." Why do you not oppose one God to all the armies of evils that beset you round? why do you not take the more content in God when you have the less of the creature to take content in? why do you not boast in your God? and bear up yourselves big with your hopes in God and expectations from him? Do you not see young heirs to great estates act and spend accordingly? And, why shall you, being the King of heaven's son, be lean and ragged from day to day, as though you were not worth a groat? O sirs, live upon your portion, chide yourselves for living besides what you have. There are great and precious promises, rich, enriching mercies; you may make use of God's all-sufficiency; you can blame none but yourselves if you be defective or discouraged. A woman, truly godly for the main, having buried a child, and sitting alone in sadness, did yet bear up her heart with the expression, "God lives;" and having parted with another, still she redoubled, "Comforts die, but God lives." At last her dear husband dies, and she sat oppressed and most overwhelmed with sorrow. A little child she had yet surviving, having observed what before she spoke to comfort herself, comes to her and saith, "Is God dead, mother? is God dead?" This reached her heart, and by God's blessing recovered her former confidence in her God, who is a living God. Thus do you chide yourselves; ask your fainting spirits under pressing outward sorrows, is not God alive? and why then doth not thy soul revive? why doth thy heart die within thee when comforts die! Cannot a living God support thy dying hopes? Thus, Christians, argue down your discouraged and disquieted spirits as David did. —Oliver Heywood's "Sure Mercies of David," 1672.

"It is God." Sir, this is none other than the hand of God; and to him alone belongs the glory, wherein none are to share with him. The General served you with all faithfulness and honour; and the best commendation I can give him is that I dare say he attributes all to God, and would rather perish than assume to himself. —Written to the Speaker of the House of Commons, after the battle of Naseby, June 14, 1645, by OLIVER CROMWELL.

I admire King David a great deal more when I see him in the quire than when I see him in the camp; when I see him singing as the sweet singer of Israel, than when I see him fighting as the worthy warrior of Israel. For fighting with others he did overcome all others; but singing, and delighting himself, he did overcome himself. —Thomas Playfere.

Love's resolve, love's logic, love's trials, love's victories. James Hervey has two sermons upon "Love to God" from this text.

The many excellences of Jehovah to his people.

God the all-sufficient portion of his people. —C. Simeon's Works, Vol. 5, Page 85.

Prayer resolved upon; praise rendered; result anticipated.

Graphic picture of a distressed soul, and its resorts in the hour of extremity.

Verse 5 (first clause). The condition of a soul convinced of sin.

Verse 5 (second clause). The way in which snares and temptations are, by Satanic craft, arranged so as to forestall or prevent us.

The time, the manner, the hearing, and the answering of prayer.

The quaking of all things in the presence of an angry God.

Celestial and terrestrial agencies subservient to the divine purposes.

The darkness in which Jehovah hides, Why? When? What then? etc.

"Hailstones and coals of fire." The terrific in its relation to Jehovah.

The Christian, like Moses, "one taken out of the water." The whole verse a noble subject; may be illustrated by life of Moses.

The saint's paean of victory over Satan, and all other foes.

Verse 17 (last clause). Singular but sound reason for expecting divine help.

The enemy's "craft," "They prevented me in the day of my calamity." The enemy chained. "But the Lord was my stay."

The reason of grace, and the position in which it places its chosen ones.

Integrity of life, its measure, source, benefit, and dangers.

The need of considering sacred things, and the wickedness of carelessly neglecting them.

The upright heart and its darling sin. W. Strong's Sermons.

Peccata in deliciis; a discourse of bosom sins. P. Newcome.

The sure trial of uprightness. Dr. Bates.

Equity of the divine procedure. —C. Simeon.

Echoes, in providence, grace, and judgment.

Consolation for the humble, and desolation for the proud.

Verse 27 (second clause). The bringing down of high looks. In a way of grace and justice. Among saints and sinner, etc. A wide theme.

A comfortable hope for an uncomfortable state.

Believing exploits recounted. Variety, difficulty in themselves, ease in performance, completeness, impunity, and dependance upon divine working.

God's way, word, and warfare.

A challenge.

I. To the gods. World, pleasure, etc. Which among these deserve the name?

II. To the rocks, self-confidence, superstition, etc. On which can we trust?

Trying positions, gracious adaptations, graceful accomplishments, secure abidings, grateful acknowledgment.

"The shield of thy salvation." What is it? Faith. Whence it comes? "Thou hast given." What it secures? "Salvation." Who have received it?

See Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 683. "Divine Gentleness Acknowledged."

Divine benevolence in the arranging of our lot.

The Red Cross Knight armed for the fray.

Unavailing prayers —on earth and in hell.

The sure overthrow, final shame, and ruin of evil.

Verse 43 (last clause). Our natural and sinful distance from Christ, no bar to grace.

Rapid advances of the gospel in some places, slow progress in others. Solemn considerations.

The living God, and how to bless and exalt him.

The greatness of salvation, "great deliverances;" its channel, "the King;" and its perpetuity, "for evermore."