Psalm 18:13 Ulasan

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.

Yea, he sent out his arrows,.... By which thunderbolts, cracks of thunder, and flashes of lightning, seem to be meant; see Psa 77:17; comparable to arrows shot, and sent out of a bow; and may denote, either the doctrines of the Gospel, which were sharp in the hearts of Christ's enemies, and are either the means of subduing them to him, or of destroying them, being the savour of death unto death; or however, like arrows, give great pain and uneasiness where they stick, and grievously distress and torment; as does the fire which comes out of the mouth of the two witnesses, Rev 11:5. The Targum is, "he sent his word as arrows;'' or else the judgments of God are meant, as famine, pestilence, and the sword, which God sent unto, and spent upon the Jewish nation, Deu 32:23; and scattered them; among the nations of the world, where they have been dispersed ever since; and he shot out lightnings; or "many lightnings", so the Targum: and discomfited them; troubled, terrified, and distressed them.

"And the Lord has thundered from heaven" [Psalm 18:13]. And in confidence of the Gospel the Lord has sounded forth from the heart of the just One. "And the Highest gave His voice;" that we might entertain it, and in the depth of human things, might hear things heavenly.

Here he treats of the third change. And first, of thunder. Second, of lightning, at "he sent his arrows." It should be known that the Psalmist speaks here according to this likeness: that whatever happens in the sky is attributed to God. Hence he takes the sound heard in the sky as though it were the voice of God. Now there is a twofold sound in the sky. One is thunder; and this, although some say it is the extinction of fire in a cloud, the Psalmist rejects and says it is produced by the clash of winds -- and so also are the clouds. And therefore the Psalmist says, "The Lord thundered from heaven." Also, sometimes thick clouds from which hailstones are generated sometimes produce a sound; hence the Philosopher says that sometimes before hail there is a crashing of clouds, sometimes not. For just as a hot and dry vapor expelled by the cold, splitting the cloud, makes a sound, as is evident in lightning, so a moist vapor congealed into hail and expelled by the heat splits it to some degree and makes a sound. And therefore he says, "The Most High gave forth his voice," that is, he manifested his power. And there follows, "hail and coals of fire," which are generated from these clouds, as was said. Or thus, "he thundered from heaven." Note that sometimes moist vapor ascends to a higher place; and because it is of the nature of water, moist impressions are made from it, which are fog, dew, haze, rain, hail, snow, and the like. Now these are diversified sometimes by diversity with respect to the thinness and thickness of heat and cold. For sometimes dry vapor ascends; and if it alone ascends, it makes winds; but if that dry vapor is contained in moist vapor, then when the moist vapor ascends upward and begins to thicken because of the cold, the dry vapor enclosed in that moist vapor causes great agitation and is inflamed -- for such vapor is quickly inflamed, as can be seen in vapor that comes from a person's belly -- and this inflammation is the cause of lightning and flashing. Now the dry vapor, agitated in the interior of the clouds, makes a manifold sound. Also, if thus inflamed it strikes the sides of the cloud and does not split it, then it gleams but not clearly, just as if someone were to see some brightness through a cloth; for the cloud is somewhat transparent, hence it is somewhat visible. And it sounds like the sound of a flame in the middle of a fire. Sometimes also, without inflammation and consequently without flashing, there is a sound, as if rumbling; and this happens when it strikes, uninflamed, the sides of the cloud. But if it strikes the sides and splits them, yet with some difficulty, and this in the thicker part of the cloud, then there is a terrible sound, as if someone were tearing a cloth of immense width; and then the appearance of the lightning or flashing is curved, because it does not go straight out of the cloud, as was said. Sometimes it splits the cloud with great force and almost instantly, and all the vapor goes out at once; and then it sounds like an inflated bladder, or as if a blown-up bag were burst over someone's head, and it strikes the air with the strongest percussion. Sometimes that dry vapor increases from inflation and, seeking a larger place, causes the cloud to dissolve suddenly, sounding like green wood crackling in fire, or especially like eggs; and this is most apparent in chestnuts, which, when placed in fire and the moisture begins to be released and seeks a larger place, break the resisting shell and exit with force and a great sound. Sometimes also, unable to exit, it is extinguished; and it sounds like red-hot iron extinguished in water, which sound the Philosopher calls "hissing" or "sizzling." Sometimes also that vapor makes various openings in the thinner parts of the cloud, and then it makes a kind of whistling sound, like wind when it exits through openings. Sometimes before it is kindled it bursts from the cloud, and then it sounds like blacksmith's bellows when they blow.

"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 storm breaks forth--thunder follows lightning, and hail with repeated lightning, as often seen, like balls or coals of fire, succeed (Exo 9:23).

(Heb.: 18:14-16) Amidst thunder, Jahve hurled lightnings as arrows upon David's enemies, and the breath of His anger laid bare the beds of the flood to the very centre of the earth, in order to rescue the sunken one. Thunder is the rumble of God, and as it were the hollow murmur of His mouth, Job 37:2. עליון, the Most High, is the name of God as the inapproachable Judge, who governs all things. The third line of Psa 18:14 is erroneously repeated from the preceding strophe. It cannot be supported on grammatical grounds by Exo 9:23, since קול נתן, edere vocem, has a different meaning from the נתן קלת, dare tonitrua, of that passage. The symmetry of the strophe structure is also against it; and it is wanting both in 2 Sam. and in the lxx. רב, which, as the opposite of מעט Neh 2:12; Isa 10:7, means adverbially "in abundance," is the parallel to ויּשׁלח. It is generally taken, after the analogy of Gen 49:23, in the sense of בּרק, Psa 144:6 : רב in pause = רב (the ō passing over into the broader like עז instead of עז in Gen 49:3) = רבב, cognate with רבה, רמה; but the forms סב, סבּוּ, here, and in every other instance, have but a very questionable existence, as e.g., רב, Isa 54:13, is more probably an adjective than the third person praet. (cf. Bttcher, Neue Aehrenlese No. 635, 1066). The suffixes ēm do not refer to the arrows, i.e., lightnings, but to David's foes. המם means both to put in commotion and to destroy by confounding, Exo 14:24; Exo 23:27. In addition to the thunder, the voice of Jahve, comes the stormwind, which is the snorting of the breath of His nostrils. This makes the channels of the waters visible and lays bare the foundations of the earth. אפיק (collateral form to אפק) is the bed of the river and then the river or brook itself, a continendo aquas (Ges.), and exactly like the Arabic mesı̂k, mesâk, mesek (from Arab. msk, the VI form of which, tamâsaka, corresponds to התאפּק), means a place that does not admit of the water soaking in, but on account of the firmness of the soil preserves it standing or flowing. What are here meant are the water-courses or river beds that hold the water. It is only needful for Jahve to threaten (epitiman Mat 8:26) and the floods, in which he, whose rescue is undertaken here, is sunk, flee (Psa 104:7) and dry up (Psa 106:9, Nah 1:4). But he is already half engulfed in the abyss of Hades, hence not merely the bed of the flood is opened up, but the earth is rent to its very centre. From the language being here so thoroughly allegorical, it is clear that we were quite correct in interpreting the description as ideal. He, who is nearly overpowered by his foes, is represented as one engulfed in deep waters and almost drowning.