Psalm 18:44 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.

The strangers shall fade away,.... Like the leaves of trees in autumn, when they fall and perish; to which hypocrites and nominal professors are compared, Jde 1:12; and be afraid out of their close places; their towers and fortified places, or the rocks and mountains to which they betake themselves for shelter; but, as not thinking themselves safe enough, through fear and dread, come out of them; see Mic 7:17. Some Jewish writers (q) interpret the words, they shall halt or be lame; that is, because of the chains put upon their feet: and so they are expressive of the conquest made of them. The word in the Arabic language signifies to "come out"; and may be so rendered here, and "come out": in Sa2 22:46; it is, "they shall gird themselves", or "come out girt". (q) R. Donesh apud Jarchi & Abendana not. in Miclol Yophi in loc. to Apollinar. Metaphras.

"You shall make Me the head of the Gentiles. A people whom I have not known have served Me." The people of the Gentiles, whom in bodily presence I have not visited, have served Me. "At the hearing of the ear they have obeyed Me" [Psalm 18:44]. They have not seen Me with the eye: but, receiving my preachers, at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed Me.

"You will deliver me." Above the Psalmist commemorated the persecution of his enemies and their total destruction; here he commemorates his own exaltation, by which he was promoted to be king. And regarding this he does two things. First he sets forth his exaltation; second, his thanksgiving, at "the Lord lives." Regarding the first he does two things. First he proposes his exaltation over the Jews; second, he sets forth the devotion of the Gentiles, at "the people"; third, the obstinacy of the Jews, at "alien sons." This pertains more especially to Christ than to David. And therefore regarding this he does two things. First he shows how he is freed from the contradiction of the Jews; second, how power is given him over the nations. He says therefore: not only have you destroyed those who hated me, but "you have delivered me from the contradictions of the people." If this is understood of David, the Jews greatly contradicted him. 2 Sam. 20: "We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse. Return to your tents, O Israel." And they also contradicted Christ, as is clear in the Gospel. Heb. 12: "Think on him who endured such contradiction against himself," etc. And from this both David and Christ were delivered. "You will set me as the head of nations"; as if to say: the Jews do not want me to rule over them, but you have made me lord of both the Jews and the Gentiles. And this especially befits Christ, as is said in Eph. 1: "He gave him as head over all the Church, which is his body." Then the devout submission of the Gentiles is set forth; hence he says, "A people I did not know has served me" -- a foreign people, such as the Ishmaelites and the Moabites, who, as is related in 2 Sam. 8, were made his tributaries. Similarly also to Christ, because those he did not know by visiting them bodily served and obeyed him. Mt. 15: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," namely to visit bodily. Or "I did not know," that is, I did not approve by giving them the law and the prophets. Is. 55: "Behold, you shall call a nation you did not know, and the nations that did not know you shall run to you." "At the hearing of the ear they obeyed me," because although they do not see me, from the mere hearing of faith through the apostles they obeyed. Is. 65: "They have found me who did not seek me." Rom. 10: "Faith comes from hearing." Or "at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me," because immediately upon hearing, as is said in Mt. 4, leaving all things they followed him.

"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.

submit, &c.--(compare Margin)--that is, show a forced subjection.