สดุดี 18:31 วิจารณ์

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 girdeth me with strength,.... For battle, as in Psa 18:39; with strength of body and fortitude of mind; both which are from the Lord, and were in David; and were acknowledged by him as bestowed on him by the Lord; and which confirms what he had before said of him: or with spiritual strength, with strength in his soul, against sin, Satan, and the world; and to do the will and work of God: saints are girt by the Lord with the whole armour of God, and among the rest with the girdle of truth; and are prepared and ready to every good work; see Sa1 2:4. Hannah's song is again referred to: in Sa2 22:33, the words are, "God is my strength and power"; they are true of Christ, the man of God's right hand, whom he promised to strengthen, and whom he has made strong for himself, Psa 80:17; and maketh my way perfect; or safe, or prosperous. God removed every impediment and obstacle out of his way, and made it plain and easy, as Jarchi observes; and succeeded him, and gave him victory over his enemies; this has been verified in Christ, who has conquered sin, Satan, the world, death, and the grave: for this is not to be understood of the way and course of David's life and conversation, which was not perfect and unspotted, but had many blemishes and imperfections in it, which he often owns, confesses, and bewails.

"For who is God, but the Lord?" [Psalm 18:31] whom we serve. "And who God, but our God?" And who is God, but the Lord? Whom after good service we sons shall possess as the hoped-for inheritance.

There follows, "God." Above he commemorated in general the benefits he expects from God in the future, namely "in you I shall be delivered," etc.; here he pursues them in particular. And it should be noted that he speaks in the manner of one who has adversity and adversaries from whom he hopes for victory; in which there is a threefold degree. First, that he may pursue his fleeing adversaries and destroy them as captives. Second, that he may reign over them, at "and you have girded me." Third, that he may be exalted, at "and you will deliver me." Regarding the first he does three things. First he commends his helper, namely God. Second, he shows how God has already given him certain things by which he is fit to pursue them. Third, he treats of the pursuit. The second, at "God who has girded me." The third, at "I will pursue." The first is divided into two. First he commends God. Second, he proves the commendation, at "for who is God." He therefore commends God for three things: that he is just in deed, true in word, and that he is merciful in coming to aid. Regarding the first he says: I shall be delivered from temptation, while I consider the purity of divine justice, because "my God, his way is undefiled." Again, while I consider his ordering of things, because nothing unjust is in him: Ezek. 18: "Is not my way right, and are not your ways rather crooked?" Or the way of God by which God goes to the soul is undefiled. And this is charity: 1 Cor. 12: "I show you a still more excellent way," that is, so that you may go securely. This is undefiled, because "charity does not deal perversely," that is, crookedly. Or God's way is Christ himself, because "he committed no sin": Is. 35: "It shall be called the holy way, and the unclean shall not pass over it; and this shall be unto you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein." Or the way of Christ is the Blessed Virgin: Ps. 76: "In the sea is your way" -- this is undefiled: Song 4: "You are all beautiful, my love," etc. Is. 54: "Enlarge the place of your tent." Regarding the second he says, "the words of the Lord." And he speaks in the likeness of gold and silver, which, if pure, is tested by fire. Hence just as gold purified by fire has no impurity, so are the words of the Lord purified: Prov. 8: "All my words are just, and there is nothing crooked or perverse in them," etc. "Tested by fire": Ps. 11: "The words of the Lord are chaste words, silver," etc. And they are said to be "tested by fire," namely of the Holy Spirit: Job 12: "The ear tries words, and the palate of him who eats discerns flavor." No one can test the words unless he has the fire of the Holy Spirit: 1 Cor. 2: "The natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God." But because he is true, he will fulfill what he has promised. And for this reason he says, "he is the protector of all who hope in him": Sir. 2: "Who has hoped in the Lord and been confounded?" Next he proves the commendation: because these are his properties -- that he is just, that he is true, and that he is merciful. If therefore these rightly belong to my God, do not seek another. But there is no other God besides him. And therefore he says, "Who is God besides the Lord?" As if to say: no one. Is. 42: "I am the Lord; this is my name." Deut. 6: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one." In this the Jews differed from others. And because others worshipped the elements of the world, or men, or angels, and these were called their makers; but the Jews worshipped the true God, their maker. He says therefore that he is the God of all creation. Second, that he was specially worshipped by the Jews. He says therefore, regarding the first, "Who is God besides the Lord," namely the maker of all creation? Jdt. 16: "Let every creature serve you." "Or who is God besides our God," specially? 1 Sam. 2: "There is none holy as the Lord, for there is no other besides you, and there is none strong like our God." Ps. 75: "In Judah God is known," etc. He is called "ours" specially by devotion, and worship, and the union of nature, and the assumption of flesh, and redemption. In this the Manicheans are confounded, because he is the God and Lord of visible things, and because the God of the Old Testament is the true God, since there is no God besides 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.

(Heb.: 18:32-35) The grateful description of the tokens of favour he has experienced takes a new flight, and is continued in the second half of the Psalm in a more varied and less artificial mixture of the strophes. What is said in Psa 18:31 of the way and word of Jahve and of Jahve Himself, is confirmed in Psa 18:32 by the fact that He alone is אלוהּ, a divine being to be reverenced, and He alone is צוּר, a rock, i.e., a ground of confidence that cannot be shaken. What is said in Psa 18:31 consequently can be said only of Him. מבּלעדי and זוּלתי alternate; the former (with a negative intensive מן) signifies "without reference to" and then absolutely "without" or besides, and the latter (with ı̂ as a connecting vowel, which elsewhere has also the function of a suffix), from זוּלת (זוּלה), "exception." The verses immediately following are attached descriptively to אלהינוּ, our God (i.e., the God of Israel), the God, who girded me with strength; and accordingly (fut. consec.) made my way תמים, "perfect," i.e., absolutely smooth, free from stumblings and errors, leading straight forward to a divine goal. The idea is no other than that in Psa 18:31, cf. Job 22:3, except that the freedom from error here is intended to be understood in accordance with its reference to the way of a man, of a king, and of a warrior; cf. moreover, the other text. The verb שׁוּה signifies, like Arab. swwâ, to make equal (aequare), to arrange, to set right; the dependent passage Hab 3:19 has, instead of this verb, the more uncoloured שׁים. The hind, איּלה or איּלת, is the perfection of swiftness (cf. ἔλαφος and ἐλαφρός) and also of gracefulness among animals. "Like the hinds" is equivalent to like hinds' feet; the Hebrew style leaves it to the reader to infer the appropriate point of comparison from the figure. It is not swiftness in flight (De Wette), but in attack and pursuit that is meant, - the latter being a prominent characteristic of warriors, according to Sa2 1:23; Sa2 2:18; Ch1 12:8. David does not call the high places of the enemy, which he has made his own by conquest "my high places," but those heights of the Holy Land which belong to him as king of Israel: upon these Jahve preserves him a firm position, so that from them he may rule the land far and wide, and hold them victoriously (cf. passages like Deu 32:13; Isa 58:14). The verb למּד, which has a double accusative in other instances, is here combined with ל of the subject taught, as the aim of the teaching. The verb נחת (to press down = to bend a bow) precedes the subject "my arms" in the singular; this inequality is admissible even when the subject stands first (e.g., Gen 49:22; Joe 1:20; Zac 6:14). קשׁת נחוּשׁה a bow of brazen = of brass, as in Job 20:24. It is also the manner of heroes in Homer and in the Ram-jana to press down and bend with their hand a brazen bow, one end of which rests on the ground.