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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 18:46 - 18:46
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(Heb.: 18:47-49) The hymn now draws towards the end with praise and thanksgiving for the multitude of God's mighty deeds, which have just been displayed. Like the (צוּרי) בָּרוּךְ which is always doxological, חי ה (vivus Jahve) is meant as a predicate clause, but is read with the accent of an exclamation just as in the formula of an oath, which is the same expression; and in the present instance it has a doxological meaning. Accordingly וְיָרוּם also signifies “exalted be,” in which sense it is written וירם (וְיָרֻם = וְיָרֹם) in the other text. There are three doxological utterances drawn from the events which have just been celebrated in song. That which follows, from הָאֵל onwards, describes Jahve once more as the living, blessed (εὐλογητόν), and exalted One, which He has shown Himself to be. From וַיַּדְבֵּר we see that הַנֹּותֵן is to be resolved as an imperfect. The proofs of vengeance, נְקָמֹות, are called God's gift, insofar as He has rendered it possible to him to punish the attacks upon his own dignity and the dignity of his people, or to witness the punishment of such insults (e.g., in the case of Nabal); for divine vengeance is a securing by punishment (vindicatio) of the inviolability of the right. It is questionable whether הִדְבִּיר (synonym רָדַד, Psa 144:2) here and in Psa 47:4 means “to bring to reason” as an intensive of דָּבַר, to drive (Ges.); the more natural meaning is “to turn the back” according to the Arabic adbara (Hitzig), cf. dabar, dabre, flight, retreat; debira to be wounded behind; medbûr, wounded in the back. The idea from which הדביר gains the meaning “to subdue” is that of flight, in which hostile nations, overtaken from behind, sank down under him (Psa 45:6); but the idea that is fully worked out in Psa 129:3, Isa 51:23, is by no means remote. With מְפַלְטַי the assertion takes the form of an address. מִן רֹומֵם does not differ from Psa 9:14 : Thou liftest me up away from mine enemies, so that I hover above them and triumph over them. The climactic אף, of which poetry is fond, here unites two thoughts of a like import to give intensity of expression to the one idea. The participle is followed by futures: his manifold experience is concentrated in one general ideal expression.