Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Samuel 22:2 - 22:2
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
2Sa 22:2-4 form the introduction.
2 Jehovah is my rock, my castle, and my deliverer to me;
3 My Rock-God, in whom I trust:
My shield and horn of my salvation, my fortress and my refuge,
My Saviour; from violence Thou redeemest me.
4 I call upon the praised one, Jehovah,
And I am saved from my enemies.
This introduction contains the sum and substance of the whole psalm, inasmuch as David groups the many experiences of divine deliverance in his agitated life into a long series of predicates, in all of which he extols God as his defence, refuge, and deliverer. The heaping up of these predicates is an expression both of liveliest gratitude, and also of hope for the future. The different predicates, however, are not to be taken as in apposition to Jehovah, or as vocatives, but are declarations concerning God, how He had proved himself faithful to the Psalmist in all the calamities of his life, and would assuredly do so still. David calls God וּמְצֻרָתִי סַלְעִי (my rock, and my castle) in Psa 31:4 as well (cf. Psa 71:4). The two epithets are borrowed from the natural character of Palestine, where steep and almost inaccessible rocks afford protection to the fugitive, as David had often found at the time when Saul was pursuing him (vid., 1Sa 24:22; 1Sa 22:5). But whilst David took refuge in rocks, he placed his hopes of safety not in their inaccessible character, but in God the Lord, the eternal spiritual rock, whom he could see in the earthly rock, so that he called Him his true castle. לִי מְפַלְטַי (my deliverer to me) gives the real explanation of the foregoing figures. The לִי (to me) is omitted in Psa 18:2, and only serves to strengthen the suffix, “my, yea my deliverer.' “My Rock-God,” equivalent to, God who is my Rock: this is formed after Deu 32:4, where Moses calls the Lord the Rock of Israel, because of His unchangeable faithfulness; for zur, a rock, is a figure used to represent immoveable firmness. In Psa 18:3 we find צוּרִי אֵלִי, “my God” (strong one), “my rock,” two synonyms which are joined together in our text, so as to form one single predicate of God, which is repeated in 2Sa 22:47. The predicates which follow, “my horn and my salvation-shield,” describe God as the mighty protector and defender of the righteous. A shield covers against hostile attacks. In this respect God was Abraham's shield (Gen 15:1), and the helping shield of Israel (Deu 33:29; cf. Psa 3:4; Psa 59:12). He is the “horn of salvation,” according to Luther, because He overcomes enemies, and rescues from foes, and gives salvation. The figure is borrowed from animals, which have their strength and defensive weapons in their horns (see at 1Sa 2:1). “My fortress:” misgab is a high place, where a person is secure against hostile attacks (see at Psa 9:10). The predicates which follow, viz., my refuge, etc., are not given in Psa 18:3, and are probably only added as a rhythmical completion to the strophe, which was shortened by the omission of the introductory lines, “I love thee heartily, Jehovah” (Psa 18:1). The last clause, “My Saviour, who redeemest me from violence,” corresponds to אֶחֱסֶה־בֹּו in the first hemistich. In Psa 18:4, David sums up the contents of his psalm of thanksgiving in a general sentence of experience, which may be called the theme of the psalm, for it embraces “the result of the long life which lay behind him, so full of dangers and deliverances.” מְהֻלָּל, “the praised one,” an epithet applied to God, which occurs several times in the Psalms (Psa 48:2; Psa 96:4; Psa 113:3; Psa 145:3). It is in apposition to Jehovah, and is placed first for the sake of emphasis: “I invoke Jehovah as the praised one.” The imperfects אֶקְרָא and אִוָּשֵׁעַ are used to denote what continually happens. In 2Sa 22:5 we have the commencement of the account of the deliverances out of great tribulations, which David had experienced at the hand of God.