Psalm 18:46 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.

It is God that avengeth me,.... Or "gives vengeance unto me", or "for me" (t): vengeance only belongs to God, and he repays it for and in behalf of his people. Private revenge is not to be exercised by any; public vengeance on delinquents may be exercised by the civil magistrate, to whom God gives power and authority to exercise it, Rom 13:4; as he did to David, as king of Israel; though the phrase rather seems to design the victories which he obtained over his enemies, which were punishments to them, vengeances inflicted on them; and owing to God; so the acceptable year of the Messiah's coming, and the time of his people redeemed by him, is called the day of vengeance of our God, both on his and their enemies, Isa 61:2; and subdueth the people under me; the Edomites, Moabites, and others, as in Sa2 8:1, or the Gentiles under Christ; See Gill on Psa 18:39; (t) "qui dat ultiones mihi", Pagninus, Gejerus; so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Musculus, Cocceius, Michaelis.

"The Lord lives, and blessed be my God." "But to be carnally minded is death:" [Romans 8:6] for "the Lord lives, and blessed be my God. And let the God of my salvation be exalted" [Psalm 18:46]. And let me not think after an earthly fashion of the God of my salvation; nor look from Him for this earthly salvation, but that on high.

"The Lord lives." Here thanksgiving is set forth; and regarding this he does three things. First he proposes it. Second, he sets forth its subject matter, at "God who gives," etc. Third, he breaks forth into praises of God, at "therefore the Lord lives." And he speaks after the manner of a king concerning God. In ancient times the mode of greeting a king was: "Long live the king!" This befits God, because he himself is eternal life: Ps. 35: "With you is the fountain of life." And therefore he says, "The Lord lives." Ezek. 33: "As I live, says the Lord God." For he is the giver of life to people: Jn. 1: "What was made, in him was life." Also, to others blessing is wished, but he himself is the very blessing: "Blessed be my God." "My God" refers to the Son: Is. 9: "A son is given to us." Ps. 66: "May God bless us, our God bless us, may God bless us." Dan. 3: "Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and worthy of praise and blessed forever." And because he fills us with blessings. Third, he desires his exaltation: "And let the God of my salvation be exalted," that is, the author and giver of the salvation of grace in the present and of glory in the future: Ps. 43: "You are my king and my God, who commands the salvation of Jacob." Also Ps. 73: "He has worked salvation in the midst of the earth." He does not ask that God be exalted in himself, because he is the Most High: Ps. 86: "The Most High himself has founded it." But that he be exalted in our knowledge. And he says, "of my salvation," that is, who saves me: Is. 45: "A just God and a savior, there is none besides me." Acts 4: "There is no other name given to people under heaven." Or "the God who saves me, may he be exalted" through his effect, so that he may save me not only in the lowest things but also in the highest: Mt. 21: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest." Sir. 43: "Exalt him as much as you can, for he is greater than all praise." Ps. 98: "Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy."

"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.

The Lord liveth--contrasts Him with idols (Co1 8:4).

(Heb.: 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.