Charles H. Spurgeon on Psalms 18:27

"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.