Psalm 18:37 Komentář

This psalm we met with before, in the history of David's life, 2 Sa. 22. That was the first edition of it; here we have it revived, altered a little, and fitted for the service of the church. It is David's thanksgiving for the many deliverances God had wrought for him; these he desired always to preserve fresh in his own memory and to diffuse and entail the knowledge of them. It is an admirable composition. The poetry is very fine, the images are bold, the expressions lofty, and every word is proper and significant; but the piety far exceeds the poetry. Holy faith, and love, and joy, and praise, and hope, are here lively, active, and upon the wing. I. He triumphs in God (Psa 18:1-3). II. He magnifies the deliverances God had wrought for him (v. 4-19). III. He takes the comfort of his integrity, which God had thereby cleared up (Psa 18:20-28). IV. He gives to God the glory of all his achievements (Psa 18:29-42). V. He encourages himself with the expectation of what God would further do for him and his (Psa 18:43-50). To the chief musician, A psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 18 To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. This is the same with that in Sa2 22:1, with some variations, omissions, and alterations: the servant of the Lord; not only by creation, nor merely by regeneration, but by office, as king of Israel, being put into it by the Lord, and acting in it in submission and obedience to him; just as the apostles under the New Testament, on account of their office, so style themselves in their epistles: who spake unto the Lord the words of this song; that is, who delivered and sung this song in so many express words, in public, before all the congregation of Israel, to the honour and glory of God: in the day [that] the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, Not that this psalm was composed and sung the selfsame day that David was delivered from Saul, and set upon the throne; for it seems to have been written in his old age, at the close of his days; for immediately after it, in the second book of Samuel, it follows, "now these be the last words of David", Sa2 23:1, but the sense is, that whereas David had many enemies, and particularly Saul, who was his greatest enemy, the Lord delivered him from them all, and especially from him, from him first, and then from all the rest; which when he reflected upon in his last days, he sat down and wrote this psalm, and then sung it in public, having delivered it into the hands of the chief musician for that purpose. There are two passages cited out of it in the New Testament, and applied to Christ; Psa 18:2, in Heb 2:13, and Psa 18:49 in Rom 15:9; and there are many things in it that very well agree with him; he is eminently the "servant" of the Lord as Mediator; he was encompassed with the snares and sorrows of death and hell, and with the floods of ungodly men, when in the garden and on the cross God was his helper and deliverer, as man; and he was victorious over all enemies, sin, Satan, the world, death and hell; as the subject of this psalm is all along represented: and to Christ it does most properly belong to be the head of the Heathen, whose voluntary subjects the Gentiles are said to be, Psa 18:43; and which is expressed in much the same language as the like things are in Isa 55:4; which is a clear and undoubted prophecy of the Messiah; to which may be added, that the Lord's Anointed, the King Messiah, and who is also called David, is expressly mentioned in Psa 18:50; and which is applied to the Messiah by the Jews (q) as Psa 18:32 is paraphrased of him by the Targum on it; and he said; the following words: (q) Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 2. & Midrash Tillim in Tzeror Hammor, fol. 47. 3.

I have wounded them, that they were not able to rise,.... Which was not only true of the Amalekites, but of all with whom David engaged in war; they are fallen under my feet; either dead, or become subject and tributaries to him; as the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites; see Sa2 8:1. This, with Psa 18:37, may very well be accommodated to David's antitype, and be expressive of the entire victory he has obtained over all his and his people's enemies; he wounded the heads over many countries, Psa 110:6. Satan and his principalities and powers, whose head is broke, whose works are destroyed; yea, he himself, which had the power of death, so as not to be able to rise more against Christ, who has led captivity captive: he has also finished and made an end of sin, and overcome the world; nor did he turn back from this work he engaged in until he had made a complete conquest; and moreover he has likewise made his people more than conquerors, through him, over these same enemies; so that the words are also applicable to them.

This is done for me through your grace, so that my feet are not ensnared nor am I cut off by the nets of my enemies or by the offenses that they had cast.

The mind must not through disbelief in the promised blessings give way to despair; and the soul once marked out for perdition must not refuse to apply remedies on the ground that its wounds are past curing.… Lo, I hear his promise: “I will pursue mine enemies and overtake them; neither will I turn again till they are consumed,” so that I, who was once your enemy and a fugitive from you, shall be laid hold of by your hand. Cease not from pursuing me till my wickedness is consumed.

"I will follow up mine enemies, and seize them" [Psalm 18:37]. I will follow up my carnal affections, and will not be seized by them, but will seize them, so that they may be consumed. "And I will not turn, till they fail." And from this purpose I will not turn myself to rest, till they fail who make a tumult about me.

If you pray against your passions or the demons that assail you recall to mind [this verse].… You are to say this at the appropriate moment, thus arming yourself against your adversary with humility.

Not only do we avoid the ones pursuing us as we flee, but we pursue our enemies, and we seize them, and we do not turn back until they fail.

"I will pursue." Above the Psalmist set forth his fitness for conquering; here he treats of the victory, how he pursued those who fled. And regarding this he does two things. First he sets forth the manner of pursuit; second, he shows the inability to resist, at "I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand." Regarding the first he does three things. First he shows the pursuit to be just; second, effective; third, persevering. Just, when he says, "I will pursue my enemies" -- not friends, but enemies. 1 Mac. 3: "Judas pursued the enemies, searching them out, and those who troubled his people he burned with flames." But it does not seem that it is lawful for good men to persecute others. Gal. 4: "As then he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so also now." Therefore it belongs to carnal people to inflict persecution, and to spiritual people to suffer it. But it should be said that the motive for pursuing distinguishes the kind of persecution. For some pursue out of love and zeal. Ps. 68: "The zeal of your house has consumed me"; and they do this in order to lead others to the good or to salvation, or to prevent evil. Ps. 100: "Him who secretly slandered his neighbor, I pursued"; and in this way the good pursue the wicked or sinners. Some pursue out of hatred, inflicting evil and impeding good; and in this way the wicked, or carnal people, pursue just men. Ps. 70: "Pursue and seize him," etc. Or "I will pursue my enemies," that is, carnal affections; "I will overtake them," they will not overtake me, according to the Gloss. And he shows how he is effective in pursuing enemies; hence he says, "and I will overtake them." Then the pursuit is shown effective when one reaches the end so as to capture them. 2 Sam. 5: "Shall I go up against the Philistines, and will you give them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, 'Go up,'" etc. And above: "He went on advancing and growing, and the Lord God of hosts was with him." Likewise he shows how the pursuit is persevering, because "I will not turn back," namely from the pursuit of the unjust, "until they fail," that is, until they are consumed. 2 Sam. 1: "The arrow of Jonathan never turned back." Morally, our enemies are the movements of desire that are in us and wage continual wars. Rom. 7: "I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind," etc. We must pursue and overtake and bind these, dominate them and restrain them. "And I will not turn back," that is, I will not cease to pursue, "until they fail" in their rebellion. 2 Sam. 8: "David struck the Philistines and humbled them." But these do not fail in this life; for although they are always diminished, they are never totally eradicated. Ex. 15: "I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them." Allegorically it is said of Christ, who pursues our enemies, the Jews and other sinners, punishing them bodily and spiritually.

"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. (Psa. 18:1-50) I will love thee--with most tender affection.

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

(Heb.: 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 Kg2 16:7). (Note: 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 (Ch2 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.