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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 18:16 - 18:16
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(Heb.: 18:17-20) Then Jahve stretches out His hand from above into the deep chasm and draws up the sinking one. The verb שָׁלַח occurs also in prose (2Sa 6:6) without יָד (Psa 57:4, cf. on the other hand the borrowed passage, Psa 144:7) in the signification to reach (after anything). The verb מָשָׁה, however, is only found in one other instance, viz., Exo 2:10, as the root (transferred from the Egyptian into the Hebrew) of the name of Moses, and even Luther saw in it an historical allusion, “He hath made a Moses of me,” He hath drawn me out of great (many) waters, which had well nigh swallowed me up, as He did Moses out of the waters of the Nile, in which he would have perished. This figurative language is followed, in Psa 18:18, by its interpretation, just as in Psa 144:7 the “great waters” are explained by מִיַּד בְּנֵי נֵכָר, which, however, is not suitable here, or at least is too limited.
With Psa 18:17 the hymn has reached the climax of epic description, from which it now descends in a tone that becomes more and more lyrical. In the combination אֹיְבִי עָז, עָז is not an adverbial accusative, but an adjective, like רוּחֲךָ טֹובָה Psa 143:10, and ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός (Hebräerbrief S. 353). כִּי introduces the reason for the interposition of the divine omnipotence, viz., the superior strength of the foe and the weakness of the oppressed one. On the day of his אֵיד, i.e., (vid., on Psa 31:12) his load or calamity, when he was altogether a homeless and almost defenceless fugitive, they came upon him (קִדֵּם Psa 17:13), cutting off all possible means of delivering himself, but Jahve became the fugitive's staff (Psa 23:4) upon which he leaned and kept himself erect. By the hand of God, out of straits and difficulties he reached a broad place, out of the dungeon of oppression to freedom, for Jahve had delighted in him, he was His chosen and beloved one. חָפֵץ has the accent on the penult here, and Metheg as a sign of the lengthening (הֲֽעֲמָדָה) beside the ē, that it may not be read ĕ.
(Note: In like manner Metheg is placed beside the ee of the final closed syllable that has lost the tone in חָפֵץ Psa 22:9, וַתְּחֹולַל Psa 90:2, vid., Isaiah S. 594 note.)
The following strophe tells the reason of his pleasing God and of His not allowing him to perish. This כִּי חָפֵץ בִּי (for He delighted in me) now becomes the primary thought of the song.