2 Samuel 22:8-16

The manifestation of Jehovah for the discomfiture of David's enemies

Earthquake and storm are regarded as the visible manifestations of Divine Power: and therefore God's interposition for the deliverance of His servant from the perils that surrounded him is described as accompanied by terrible phenomena in nature. We have here an ideal description of a Theophany, based on the description of the Theophany at Sinai. See Exodus 19:16-18; and cp. Psalms 68:8; Psalms 77:16-18; Judges 5:4-5. It is not indeed impossible that David refers to some occasion when his enemies were scattered by the breaking of a terrible storm (cp. Joshua 10:11; 1 Samuel 7:10): but we have no record of such an event having actually happened in his life; and in any case the picture is designed to serve as a description of God's intervention for his deliverance in general, and not upon any single occasion. His power was exerted as really and truly as if all these extraordinary natural phenomena had visibly attested His Advent.

The earthquake (2 Samuel 22:8); the distant lightnings (2 Samuel 22:9); the gathering darkness of the storm (2 Samuel 22:10); the final outburst of its fury (2 Samuel 22:13); are pictured in regular succession.

Psalms 29 may be compared as illustrating David's sense of the grandeur and significance of natural phenomena.