Salmi 18:23 Commento

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.

Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness,.... Having proved and supported this proposition by the above reasons, it is repeated, for confirmation's sake; according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight; this phrase, "in his eyesight", is here added, to show that the righteousness of Christ was clean, pure, and spotless in the sight of God; in the eye of divine justice: hence those that are clothed with it are holy and unblamable, and irreprovable in his sight, Col 1:22.

"And I shall be undefiled with Him, and I shall keep Myself from Mine iniquity" [Psalm 18:23].

I will be blameless with him, with that very one who, himself blameless, suffered on the cross for our iniquities.

"And I shall be." Above the Psalmist commemorated the benefit of deliverance regarding the past; here regarding the future, as to hope. And first he commemorates the benefits in general. Second, in particular those he has received and those he hopes for, at "my God, his way is undefiled." Third, he commends divine justice. Regarding the first he does two things. First he proposes a prayer to God. Second, he commends the hope of being heard, at "for you light my lamp." He proposes three things. First, the resolution to persevere in innocence. Second, the merit of retribution. Third, he assigns the reason. The second, at "he will reward." The third, at "with the holy one you will be holy." He says therefore, "And I shall be spotless with him," that is, I will cling to God, because he speaks in the person of himself and of others, some of whom are innocent; and therefore he says, "and I shall be," that is, I will stand and persevere in innocence: Sir. 31: "Blessed is the man who is found without blemish." Or "I shall be spotless with him," that is, I will cling to God: 1 Cor. 6: "He who clings to God is one spirit," etc., keeping yourself from every stain: Job 27: "Until I die I will not depart from my innocence." Some are penitents, and what pertains to them is that they not fall again into sin (and therefore he says, "and I will guard myself from my iniquity"), like a dog that returns to its vomit and a sow that was washed to wallowing in the mud (2 Pet. 2). Sir. 26: "My heart has been saddened over two things, and the third brings anger upon me: a man of war failing through poverty, and a man of understanding despised, and he who passes from justice to sin -- God has prepared him for the sword." Next he sets forth the hope of retribution when he says, "And the Lord will reward me according to my justice." And there is a twofold retribution. One that is given for goods fulfilled; and for this he says, "The Lord will reward me according to my justice." Anselm says: justice is the rectitude of will preserved for its own sake. Or according to a person's works he will render to him: Ps. 62: "He will render to each one according to his works." He says "I will guard myself" and "he will reward," because if a person was at one time just and did works of justice but does not guard himself from sins, or does not preserve himself in works of justice, therefore his merit is dead and he does not deserve retribution: Ezek. 18: "All his justices shall not be remembered." The other retribution is given for benefits; hence he says, "He will reward according to the cleanness of my hands in the sight of his eyes." Sometimes people have only outwardly clean hands, that is, pure works, and to those God will not give a reward; but when they have pure works in the heart, then he will reward. And this is "in the sight of his eyes," not those goods that are in our sight, but in the sight of God: Is. 64: "Eye has not seen, O God, apart from you." And what will he reward? Ineffable joy and an increase of grace, which come from keeping the commandments of God: Ps. 18: "In keeping them there is a great reward." "And he will reward according to the cleanness of my hands," that is, of my works. Now a work is called impure by reason of carnal affection: Is. 1: "Your hands are full of blood." Also by reason of vainglory: Mt. 6: "Take heed that you do not do your justice before men, to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have a reward." Gregory says: it is great folly to act and to gape for praise, when by the very thing by which one could have purchased heaven, one seeks instead a vain and passing word.

"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.

upright before him--In my relation to God I have been perfect as to all parts of His law. The perfection does not relate to degree. mine iniquity--perhaps the thought of his heart to kill Saul (Sa1 24:6). That David does not allude to all his conduct, in all relations, is evident from Psa 51:1, &c.