Psalms 18 - Introduction

This psalm is found, with some unimportant variations, in 2 Samuel 22. In that history, as in the inscription of the psalm here, it is said to have been composed by David on the occasion when the Lord “delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.” There can, therefore, be no doubt that David was the author, nor can there be any as to the occasion on which it was composed. It is a song of victory, and is beyond doubt the most sublime ode that was ever composed on such an occasion. David, long pursued and harassed by foes who sought his life, at length felt that a complete triumph was obtained, and that he and his kingdom were safe, and he pours forth the utterances of a grateful heart for God’s merciful and mighty interposition, in language of the highest sublimity, and with the utmost grandeur of poetic imagery. Nowhere else, even in the sacred Scriptures, are there to be found images more beautiful, or expressions more sublime, than those which occur in this psalm.

From the place which this psalm occupies in the history of the life of David (2 Samuel 22), it is probable that it was composed in the latter years of his life, though it occupies this early place in the Book of Psalms. We have no reason to believe that the principle adopted in the arrangement of the Psalms was to place them in chronological order; and we cannot determine why in that arrangement this psalm has the place which has been assigned to it; but we cannot well be mistaken in supposing that it was composed at a somewhat advanced period of the life of David, and that it was in fact among the last of his compositions. Thus, in the Book of Samuel, it is placed (1 Samuel 22) immediately preceding a chapter (1 Samuel 23) which professes (1 Samuel 23:1) to record “the last words of David.” And thus in the title it is said to have been composed when “the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies,” an event which occurred only at a comparatively late period of his life.

The circumstance which is mentioned in the title - “and out of the hand of Saul” - does not necessarily conflict with this view, or make it necessary for us to suppose that it was composed immediately after his deliverance from the hand of Saul. To David, recording and recounting the great events of his life, that deliverance would occur as one of the most momentous and worthy of a grateful remembrance, for it was a deliverance which was the foundation of all his subsequent successes, and in which the divine interposition had been most remarkable. At any time of his life it would be proper to refer to this as demanding special acknowledgment. Saul had been among the most formidable of all his enemies. The most distressing and harassing events of his life had occurred in the time of his conflicts with him. God’s interpositions in his behalf had occurred in the most remarkable manner, in delivering him from the dangers of that period of his history.

It was natural and proper, therefore, in a general song of praise, composed in view of all God’s interpositions in his behalf, that he should refer particularly to those dangers and deliverances. This opinion, that the psalm was composed when David was aged, which seems so obvious, is the opinion of Jarchi and Kimchi, of Rosenmuller and DeWette. The strong imagery, therefore, in the psalm, describing mighty convulsions of nature Psalms 18:6, is to be understood, not as a literal description, but as narrating God’s gracious interposition in the time of danger, “as if” the Lord had spoken to him out of the temple; “as if” the earth had trembled; “as if” its foundations had been shaken; “as if” a smoke had gone out of his nostrils; “as if” he had bowed the heavens and come down; “as if” he had thundered in the heavens, and had sent out hailstones and coals of fire, etc.

From the fact that there are variations, though not of an essential character, in the two copies of the psalm, it would seem not improbable that it had been revised by David himself, or by some other person, after it was first composed, and that one copy was used by the author of the Book of Samuel, and the other by the collector and arranger of the Book of Psalms. These variations are not important, and by no means change the essential character of the psalm. It is not very easy to see why they were made, if they were made designedly, or to account for them if they were not so made. They are such as the following: The introduction, or the title of it, is adapted, in the psalm before us, to the purposes for which it was designed, when it was admitted into the collection. “To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words,” etc. The first verse of Psalms 18, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength,” is not found in the psalm as it is in the Book of Samuel. The second verse of the psalm is, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”

In Samuel, the corresponding passage is, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock, in him will I trust; he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.” In Psalms 18:4, the reading is, “The sorrows of death compassed me” etc.; in Samuel, “The waves of death compassed me.” Similar variations, affecting the words, without materially affecting the sense, occur in Psalms 18:2, Psalms 18:6, Psalms 18:11, Psalms 18:19, Psalms 18:23, also in Psalms 18:28, Psalms 18:32, and Ps. 18:47-51. See these passages arranged in Rosenmuller’s Scholia, vol. i., pp. 451-458. In no instance is the sense very materially affected, though the variations are so numerous.

It is impossible now to account for these variations. Hammond, Kennicott, and others, suppose that they occurred from the errors of transcribers. But to this opinion Schultens opposes unanswerable objections. He refers particularly

(a) to the multitude and variety of the changes;

(b) to the condition or state of the codices;

(c) to the nature of the variations, or to the fact that changes are made in words, and not merely in letters of similar forms which might be mistaken for each other.

See his arguments in Rosenmuller, Schol., vol. i., pp. 441-443. It seems most probable, therefore, that these changes were made by design, and that it was done either by David, who revised the original composition. and issued two forms of the poem, one of which was inserted in the history in Samuel, and the other in the collection of the Psalms; or that the changes were made by the collector of the Psalms, when they were arranged for public worship. The former supposition is a possible one; though, as the psalm was composed near the close of the life of David, it would seem not to be very probable. The most natural supposition, therefore, is, that the changes were made by the collector of the Psalms, whoever he might be, or by the person who presided over this part of public worship in the temple, and that the changes were made for some reason which we cannot now understand, as better adapting the psalm to musical purposes.

Doederlein supposes that the recension was made by some later poet, for the purpose of “polishing” the language; of giving it a more finished poetic form; and of adapting it better to public use; and he regards both forms as “genuine, elegant, sublime; the one more ancient, the other more polished and refined.” It seems most probable that the changes were made with a view to some rhythmical or musical effect, or for the purpose of adapting the psalm to the music of the temple service. Such changes would depend on causes which could be now little understood, as we are not sufficiently acquainted with the music employed in public worship by the Hebrews, nor are we now competent to understand the effect which, in this respect, would be produced by a slight change of phraseology. Variations of a similar nature now exist in psalms and hymns which could not be well explained or understood by one who was not familiar with our language and with our music, and which, after as long an interval as that between the time when the Psalms were arranged for musical purposes and the present time, would be wholly unintelligible.

The psalm embraces the following subjects:

I. A general acknowledgment of God, and thanks to him, as the Deliverer in the time of troubles, and as worthy to be praised, Psalms 18:1.

II. A brief description of the troubles and dangers from which the psalmist had been rescued, Psalms 18:4.

III. A description, conceived in the highest forms of poetic language, of the divine interposition in times of danger, Psalms 18:6,

IV. A statement of the psalmist that this interposition was of such a nature as to vindicate his own character, or to show that his cause was a righteous cause; that he was right, and that his enemies had been in the wrong; that God approved his course, and disapproved the course of his enemies: or, in other words, that these interpositions were such as to prove that God was just, and would deal with men according to their character, Psalms 18:20.

V. A recapitulation of what God had done for him, in enabling him to subdue his enemies, and a statement of the effect which he supposed would be produced on others by the report of what God had done in his behalf, Psalms 18:31.

VI. A general expression of thanksgiving to God as the author of all these blessings, and as worthy of universal confidence and praise, Psalms 18:46.

Psalms 18:Title

“To the chief Musician.” See the notes to the title of Psalms 4:1.

A Psalm of David - The words “A Psalm” are not here in the original, and may convey a slightly erroneous impression, as if the psalm had been composed for the express purpose of being used publicly in the worship of God. In the corresponding place in 2 Samuel 22, it is described as a “Song” of David: “And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song.” It was originally an expression of his private gratitude for God’s distinguishing mercies, and was afterward, as we have seen, probably adapted to purposes of public worship by some one of a later age.

The servant of the Lord - This expression also is wanting in 2 Samuel 22. It is undoubtedly an addition by a later hand, as indicating the general character which David had acquired, or as denoting the national estimate in regard to his character. The same expression occurs in the title to Psalms 36:1. The Aramaic Paraphrase translates this title: “To be sung over the wonderful things which abundantly happened to the servant of the Lord, to David, who sang,” etc. The use of the phrase here - “the servant of the Lord” - by him who made the collection of the Psalms, would seem to imply that he regarded the psalm as having a sufficiently public character to make it proper to introduce it into a collection designed for general worship. In other words, David was not, in the view of the author of the collection, a private man, but was eminently a public servant of Yahweh; and a song of grateful remembrance of God’s mercies to him was entitled to be regarded as expressing the appropriate feelings of God’s people in similar circumstances in all times.

Who spake unto the Lord - Composed it as giving utterance to his feelings toward the Lord.

The words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him - When the Lord “had” delivered him; when he felt that he was completely rescued from “all” his foes. This does not mean that the psalm was composed on a particular day when God had by some one signal act rescued him from impending danger, but it refers to a calm period of his life. when he could review the past, and see that God had rescued him from “all” the enemies that had ever threatened his peace. This would probably, as has been suggested above, occur near the close of his life.

From the hand of all his enemies - Out of the hand, or the power. There is here a “general” view of the mercy of God in rescuing him from all his foes.

And from the hand of Saul - Saul had been one of his most formidable enemies, and the wars with him had been among the most eventful periods of the life of David. In a general review of his life, near its close, he would naturally recur to the dangers of that period, and to God’s gracious interpositions in his behalf, and it would seem to him that what God had done for him in those times deserved a special record. The original word here - כף kaph - is not the same as in the corresponding place in 2 Samuel 22 - יד yâd - though the idea is substantially the same. The word used here means properly the “palm” or “hollow” of the hand; the word used in Samuel means the hand itself. Why the change was made we have not the means of ascertaining.

And he said - So 2 Samuel 22:2. What follows is what he said.