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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 18:28 - 18:28
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(Heb.: 18:29-31) The confirmation of what has been asserted is continued by David's application of it to himself. Hitzig translates the futures in Psa 18:29. as imperfects; but the sequence of the tenses, which would bring this rendering with it, is in this instance interrupted, as it has been even in Psa 18:28, by כִּי. The lamp, נֵר (contracted from nawer), is an image of life, which as it were burns on and on, including the idea of prosperity and high rank; in the form נִיר (from niwr, nijr) it is the usual figurative word for the continuance of the house of David, 1Ki 11:36, and frequently. David's life and dominion, as the covenant king, is the lamp which God's favour has lighted for the well-being of Israel, and His power will not allow this lamp (2Sa 21:17) to be quenched. The darkness which breaks in upon David and his house is always lighted up again by Jahve. For His strength is mighty in the weak; in, with, and by Him he can do all things. The fut. אָרֻץ may be all the more surely derived from רָצַץ (= אָרֹץ), inasmuch as this verb has the changeable u in the future also in Isa 42:4; Ecc 12:6. The text of 2 Sam 22, however, certainly seems to put “rushing upon” in the stead of “breaking down.” With Psa 18:31 the first half of the hymn closes epiphonematically. הָאֵל is a nom. absol., like hatsuwr, Deu 32:4. This old Mosaic utterance is re-echoed here, as in 2Sa 7:22, in the mouth of David. The article of הָאֵל points to God as being manifest in past history. His way is faultless and blameless. His word is צְרוּפָה, not slaggy ore, but purified solid gold, Psa 12:7. Whoever retreats into Him, the God of the promise, is shielded from every danger. Pro 30:5 is borrowed from this passage.