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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 18:20 - 18:20
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(Heb.: 18:21-24) On גָּמַל (like שִׁלֵּם with the accusative not merely of the thing, but also of the person, e.g., 1Sa 24:18), εὐ or κακῶς πράττειν τινά, vid., on Psa 7:5. שָׁמַר, to observe = to keep, is used in the same way in Job 22:15. רָשַׁע מִן is a pregnant expression of the malitiosa desertio. “From God's side,” i.e., in His judgment, would be contrary to the general usage of the language (for the מִן in Job 4:17 has a different meaning) and would be but a chilling addition. On the poetical form מִנִּי, in pause מֶנִּי, vid., Ew. §263, b. The fut. in Psa 18:23, close after the substantival clause Psa 18:23, is not intended of the habit in the past, but at the present time: he has not wickedly forsaken God, but (כִּי = imo, sed) always has God's commandments present before him as his rule of conduct, and has not put them far away out of his sight, in order to be able to sin with less compunction; and thus then (fut. consec.) in relation (עִם, as in Deu 18:13, cf. 2Sa 23:5) to God he was תָמִים, with his whole soul undividedly devoted to Him, and he guarded himself against his iniquity (עָוֹן, from עָוָה, Arab. 'wâ, to twist, pervert, cf. Arab. gwâ, of error, delusion, self-enlightenment), i.e., not: against acquiescence in his in-dwelling sin, but: against iniquity becoming in any way his own; מְֽעֲוֹנִי equivalent to מֵֽעֲוֹתִי (Dan 9:5), cf. מֵחַיָּי = than that I should live, Jon 4:8. In this strophe, this Psalm strikes a cord that harmonises with Psa 17:1-15, after which it is therefore placed. We may compare David's own testimony concerning himself in 1Sa 26:23., the testimony of God in 1Ki 14:8, and the testimony of history in 1Ki 15:5; 1Ki 11:4.