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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Samuel 22:32 - 22:32
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
32 For who is God save Jehovah,
And who a rock save our God?
33 This God is my strong fortress,
And leads the innocent his way.
34 He makes my feet like the hinds,
And setteth me upon my high places;
35 He teacheth my hands to fight,
And my arms span brazen bows.
There is no true God who can help, except or by the side of Jehovah (cf. Deu 32:31; 1Sa 2:2). צוּר, as in 2Sa 22:2. This God is “my strong fortress:” for this figure, comp. Psa 31:5 and Psa 27:1. חַיִל, strength, might, is construed with מָעוּזִי, by free subordination: “my fortress, a strong one,” like עֹז מַחֲסִי (Psa 71:7; cf. Ewald, §291, b.). יַתֵּר for יָתֵר, from תּוּר (vid., Ges. §72; Olshausen, Gram. p. 579), in the sense of leading or taking round, as in Pro 12:26. God leads the innocent his way, i.e., He is his leader and guide therein. The Keri דַּרְכִּי rests upon a misunderstanding. There is an important difference in the reading of this verse in Ps 18, viz., “The God who girdeth me with strength, and makes my way innocent.” The last clause is certainly an alteration which simplifies the meaning, and so is also the first clause, the thought of which occurs again, word for word, in 2Sa 22:40, with the addition of לַמִּלְחָמָה. אַיָּלָה or אַיֶּלֶת, the hind, or female stag, is a figure of speech denoting swiftness in running. “Like the hinds:” a condensed simile for “like the hinds' feet,” such as we frequently meet with in Hebrew (vid., Ges. §144, Anm.). The reference is to swiftness in pursuit of the foe (vid., 2Sa 2:18; 1Ch 12:8). רַגְלָיו, his feet, for רַגְלַי (my feet) in the psalm, may be accounted for from the fact, that David had spoken of himself in the third person as the innocent one. “My high places” were not the high places of the enemy, that became his by virtue of conquest, but the high places of his own land, which he maintained triumphantly, so that he ruled the land for them. The expression is formed after Deu 32:13, and is imitated in Hab 3:19. לִמַּד is generally construed with a double accusative: here it is written with an accusative and לְ, and signifies to instruct for the war. נִחַת, in the psalm נִחֲתָה, on account of the feminine זְרֹועֹתַי, is not the Niphal of חָתַת, to be broken in pieces, but the Piel of נָחַת, to cause to go down, to press down the bow, i.e., to set it. The bow of brass is mentioned as being the strongest: setting such a bow would be a sign of great heroic strength. The two verses (2Sa 22:34 and 2Sa 22:35) are simply a particularizing description of the power and might with which the Lord had endowed David to enable him to conquer all his foes.