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David’s song of thanksgiving for the victories that the Lord gave him over his enemies through his deeds of might
2 Samuel 22
The Lord [Jehovah] is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer,
3The God of my rock [My Rock-God], in him will [om. will] I trust,
He is [om. he is] my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower [fortress], and my refuge,
My Saviour, thou savest me from violence.
4I will [om, will] call on the Lord [Jehovah] who is worthy to be praised,
So shall I [And I shall] be saved from mine enemies.
5When [For] the waves of death compassed me,
The floods of ungodly men [streams of wickedness] made me afraid,
6The sorrows [toils] of hell [Sheol] compassed me about,
The snares of death prevented [encountered] me.
7In my distress I called upon the Lord [Jehovah],
And cried to my God [And to my God I cried],
And he did hear [heard] my voice out of his temple [palace],
And my cry did enter [entered] into his ears.
8Then [And] the earth shook and trembled,
The foundations of heaven [the heavens] moved
And shook, because he was wroth.
9There went up a smoke out of [in] his nostrils
And fire out of his mouth devoured,
Coals were kindled by it [Ked-hot coals burned from him].
10He bowed the heavens also [And he bowed the heavens], and came down,
And darkness [cloud-darkness] was under his feet.
11And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly,
And he was seen [And appeared] upon the wings of the wind.
12And he made darkness pavilions round about him,
Dark waters [Gathering of waters], and [om. and] thick clouds of the skies.
13Through [Out of] the brightness before him
Were coals of fire kindled [Burned coals of fire].
14The Lord [Jehovah] thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered his voice.
15And he sent out arrows, and scattered them,
Lightning, and discomfited them.
16And the channels [beds] of the sea appeared,
The foundations of the world [earth] were discovered
At the rebuking of the Lord [Jehovah],
At [By] the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
17He sent [reached] from above [on high], he took me,
He drew me out of many [great] waters.
18He delivered me from my strong enemy,
And [om. and] from them that hated me, for they were too strong for me.
19They prevented [came upon] me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord [And Jehovah] was my stay.
20He brought me forth also [And he brought me forth] into a large place,
He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
21The Lord [Jehovah] rewarded [rendered] me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
22For I have kept the ways of the Lord [Jehovah],
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
23For all his judgments were [are] before me,
And as for his statutes I did [do] not depart from them.
24I was also [And I was] upright before [perfect towards] him,
And have kept myself from my iniquity.
25Therefore the Lord [And Jehovah] hath recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to my cleanness in his eyesight.
26With the merciful thou wilt show [showest] thyself merciful,
And [om. and] with the upright [perfect] man thou wilt show [showest] thyself upright [perfect].
27With the pure thou wilt show [showest] thyself pure,
And with the froward [perverse] thou wilt show [showest] thyself unsavory [perverse].
28And the afflicted people thou wilt save [savest],
But [And] thine eyes are upon [against] the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.
29For thou art my lamp, O Lord [Jehovah],
And the Lord [Jehovah] will lighten [lightens] my darkness.
30For by thee I have run [I run] through a troop [troops],
By my God have I leaped over [I leap over] a wall [walls].
31As for God, his way is perfect;
The word of the Lord [Jehovah] is tried [pure],
He is a buckler to all them that trust in him.
32for who is God save the Lord [Jehovah]?
And who is a rock save our God?
33God is my strength and power [strong fortress].
And he maketh my way perfect.
34He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet (like the hinds),
And setteth me upon my high places.
35He teacheth my hands to war,
So that [And] a bow of steel is broken by mine arms [my arms bend a bow of bronze].
36Thou hast also [And thou hast] given me the shield of thy salvation,
And thy gentleness [hearkening] hath made me great.
37Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,
So that [And] my feet did not slip [my ankles did not tremble].
38I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them,
And turned not again until I had consumed them.
39And I have consumed them, and wounded [crushed] them,
That [And] they could [did] not arise,
Yea [And] they art fallen under my feet.
40For [And] thou hast girded me with strength to battle,
Them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.
41Thou hast also [And thou hast] given me the necks of mine enemies,
That I might destroy [And I destroyed] them that hate [hated] me.
42They looked, but there was none to save [and there was no saviour],
Even [om. even] unto the Lord [Jehovah], but [and] he answered them not.
43Then did [And] I beat them as small as the dust of the earth,
I did stamp [crushed] them as the mire of the street, and [om. and] did spread them abroad [stamped them].
44Thou also [And thou] hast delivered me from the strivings of my people,
Thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen,
A people which I knew not, shall [om. shall] serve me.
45Strangers shall submit themselves unto me [Strangers fawn on me],
As soon as they hear, they shall be [are] obedient unto me.
46Strangers shall fade away,
And they shall be afraid out of their close places [strongholds].
47The Lord [Jehovah] liveth, and blessed be my rock,
And exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
48It is God [The God] that avengeth me,
And that [om. that] bringeth down the people [peoples] under me,
49And that [om. that] bringeth me forth from mine enemies,
Thou also [And thou] hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me [hast exalted me above my adversaries],
Thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
50Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord [Jehovah], among the heathen,
And I will sing praises unto thy name.
51He is the tower of salvation for his king,
And showeth mercy to his Anointed,
Unto [To] David and to his seed for evermore.
2Sa_22:2-4. The prologue of the song. With an unusually great number of predicates, David out of his joyously thankful heart, praises the Lord for His many deliverances. The numerous designations of God in 2Sa_22:2-3 are the summary statement of what, as the song exhibits in detail, the Lord has been to him in all his trials. In 2Sa_22:4 the thankful testimony to the salvation that God (as above designated in 2Sa_22:2-3) has vouchsafed him, is set forth as the theme of the whole song. The opening words of Psalms 18 (2Sa_22:2 [2Sa_22:1]): “I love thee, O Lord, my strength,” are wanting in our passage. The originality of this introduction, which the Syriac [of 2 Samuel 22] contains, and which “carries its own justification” (Thenius), is not to be doubted; it has here fallen out either “from illegible writing” (Thenius), or through mistake. “I deeply love thee;” David’s deep love to his God is the fruit of God’s manifestations of love to him. Luther: “Thus he declareth his deepest love, that he delighteth in our Lord God; for he feeleth that his benefits are unspeakable, and from this exceeding great delight and love it cometh that He giveth him so many names, as in what followeth.” These words of Psa_18:2 have occasioned the noble hymns: “With all my heart, O Lord, I love Thee” (M. Schalling), and: “Thee will I love, my strength” (J. Scheffler).—The phrase: “my strength” denotes not the inner power of heart received by David from God (Luther), but (as is shown by the following names of God, which all refer to outward help) the manifestations of the might of God amid the trials brought on him by enemies.—My rock and my fortress; the same designation is found in Psa_31:4 [Psa_31:3] and Psa_71:3. “My rock, properly cleft of a rock, which gives concealment from enemies,=he who conceals me to save me. So in Psa_42:10 [Psa_42:9] the strong God ( àֵì ), is called, over against pressing enemies, “my rock.”—My fortress, a place difficult of access from its height and strength, offering protection against ambush and attack, a watchtower. The natural basis for these figures is found in the frequent rock-clefts and steep, inaccessible hills of Palestine. Comp. Jdg_6:2; Job_39:27-28; Isa_33:16. The historical basis is furnished by David’s experiences in Saul’s time, when he was often obliged to betake himself to clefts and hills. Comp. 1Sa_22:5; 23:14, 19; 24:1, 23.—The meaning of these concrete figures is indicated in the added expression: My deliverer. Böttcher would change the pointing and read: “My deliverance;” but there is no good ground for this, either in the occurrence of this latter word in Psa_55:9 [8] and Psa_144:2, or in the abstract expressions of 2Sa_22:4 [2Sa_22:3]. Rather the indication of the Lord’s personal, active help in the words saviour and savest, favors the reading “deliverer.”
2Sa_22:3. God of my rock, of my house, my rock-God. Psa_18:3 [Psa_18:2] has: “my strong God ( àֵì ), my rock;” these separated predicates are here united into one expression. The word “rock” (comp. stone in Gen_49:24), denotes the firmness and unshakableness of God’s faithfulness, which is founded on the unchangeableness of His being (comp. Isa_26:4 sqq.) and gives assurance of unendangered, certain security. So in Deu_32:4; Deu_32:37 God is called the rock as the God of faithfulness, whom one securely builds on and trusts (Ps. 92:16 [Psa_92:15]). Comp. 2Sa_22:47, where the name “rock-God” again occurs.—In whom I trust (the construction is relative). The “trust” as firm confidence answers to the rock-like firmness of the divine faithfulness, on which one may rely.—My shield, figure of covering against the attacks of enemies, protection against dangers. So in Gen_15:1 God calls Himself Abraham’s shield, and in Deu_33:29 He is the shield of the help [=the saving shield] of Israel. The figure is frequent in the Psalms; see Psa_3:4 [ Psa_3:3]; Psa_7:11 [10, Eng. A. V.: defence]; Psa_28:7; Psa_59:12 [Psa_59:11], and elsewhere.—And horn of my salvation, denotes God’s might and strength, which gives not only protection, but also help and salvation in the overcoming of enemies. The figure refers not to the horns of the altar (Hitzig, Moll), as if protection were the only thing involved, but to the horns of beasts, in which their strength is shown in the victorious repulse of an attack [or, in making an attack] (see 1Sa_2:1; 1Sa_2:10; Job_16:15; Ps. 75:5, 6, 11 [Psa_75:4-5; Psa_75:10]; Psa_89:18 [Psa_89:17]; Psa_92:11 [Psa_92:10]; Psa_112:9; Psa_148:1). The Lord is not only protection against attacks, but also “a trusty shield and weapon” (“ein’ gute wehr und waffe”) for victoriously combating and repelling them. Comp. Deu_33:29, where the God of Israel is called the shield of their help and the sword of their excellency. The reference of the “horn” to a mountain-peak has small support from Isa_5:1, and, as the comparison with the strength of horned beasts is so frequent, must be rejected.—My stronghold [Eng. A. V.: high tower], steep, lofty place, inaccessible and therefore safe, see Psa_9:10 [9 Eng. A.V.: refuge]. And my refuge, my Saviour, who saves me from violence. These words are wanting in Psalms 18. Their insertion is not to be explained from the desire to give rhythmical completeness to the strophe left imperfect by the omission of the “I love Thee, Jehovah” (Keil), but from the effort (in accordance with the position of the song here in the midst of the history) to explain the preceding declarations about God in respect to the help actually given by Him. As a testimony to the deliverance vouchsafed David by God as his rock, etc., the words make the transition to 2Sa_22:4.—Most modern expositors regard all these appellatives as in apposition with “Jehovah,” putting the latter in the vocative (so also Hitzig and Delitzsch) [“O Jehovah, my rock… my Saviour, Thou savest me from violence”]. But as Hupfeld (on Psa_18:3 [2]) -rightly remarks, this would produce too long and heavy an address. The “Jehovah” is therefore (with the older expositors and the ancient versions) to be taken as subject, and the appellations as declarations: “Jehovah is my rock and my fortress,” etc.
2Sa_22:4. As the praised one I call on the Lord, or: I call on the praised one, the Lord. The participle ( îְçֻìָּì ) does not mean “glorious” (Hengst., Hupf.), but (conformably to the frequent hallelujah)=“blessed,” Psa_48:2 [Psa_48:1]; Psa_96:4; Psa_113:3; Psa_145:3, comp. 1Ch_16:25; nor does it mean laudandus, “praiseworthy.” [The Participles may have the force of the Lat. Fut. Passive; Eng. A. V.: “worthy to be praised,” Vulg.: laudabilem; Sept.: ἀéíåôüí . The Chaldee (which paraphrases largely in 2Sa_22:3) takes it as active, and renders: “Said David, With praise I will pray before Jehovah.” Ewald (on Psalms 18) renders it: “worthy to be praised.”—Tr.] It is not vocative, but Accusative, and is put at the beginning of the sentence for the sake of emphasis, as in 2Sa_22:2; 2Sa_7:16; 2Sa_10:7; 2Sa_10:14; 2Sa_10:17. David has actually praised the Lord in the preceding predicates; they form the content of the praise. The rendering: “Praised be Thou, I cry, O Jehovah” (G. Baur, Olshausen) does not accord with the following member: “and from my enemies I am saved.” The verbs are not (with many old expositors) to be taken as future: “I will call, shall be saved,” but as expressing undefined past time, comp. Psa_3:5 [Psa_3:4] [or, better as indefinite as to time, the Eng. general present.—Tr.]. David prefaces his song with this general, all-embracing declaration (based on all his experiences of the Lord’s help), of which the sense is: “as often as (= when) I call on the Lord, I am saved;” and he now proceeds to exhibit its truth by the citation of his experiences. He bases his confident appeal to the Lord for help on His manifestations of might, wherein he recognizes and praises God as his deliverer.
2Sa_22:5-28. First part of the description of the divine manifestation of help, experienced by David in the time of Saul’s persecutions.
2Sa_22:5-7. From the description of the dangers that pressed on him (2Sa_22:5-6), he proceeds to the avowal that he called on the Lord for help, and was heard (2Sa_22:7).
2Sa_22:5. For breakers of death had surrounded me. The “for” (lacking in Psa_18:5 [4]) introduces the following as the ground of the declaration of 2Sa_22:4. Instead of “breakers” the Ps, has “cords (bands),” representing death under the image of a hunter, comp. Psa_91:3. The “breakers” here correspond better to the “floods” of the next member. “Floods of wickedness;” the word ( áְּìִéַּòַì ) means properly “uselessness, worthlessness,” commonly found in an ethical sense: “wickedness,” comp. 2Sa_16:7; 2Sa_20:1; 2Sa_23:6; 1Sa_2:12; 1Sa_10:27; 1Sa_25:17; 1Sa_25:25. It is found also in the physical sense of “destruction, harm,” Nah_1:11; Psa_41:9 [Psa_41:8, Eng. A. V.: evil disease]. So it must be taken here also, on account of the parallels: “breakers of death, nets of hell, snares of death.” “Had terrified me” (suddenly come upon me). [Dr. Erdmann in his translation, renders: “floods of wickedness,” but his preceding statement requires: “floods of destruction,” (so Delitzsch).—Tr.]
2Sa_22:6. Nets of hell [better: Sheol.—Tr.]—snares of death. From the figure of water-waves the poet passes to that of the hunter, under which is represented the suddenly and treacherously attacking power of death. “Snares of death fall on me” ( ÷ִãֵּí ) comp. 2Sa_22:19; Psa_17:13; Job_30:27.—The words of 2Sa_22:5-6 describe not all the dangers of David’s life up to this time (Keil, Ew., Hupf., Thol.), but the snares and persecutions that befell him in Saul’s time. The description of peril of life agrees only with this time, which the title also expressly mentions. This view is favored also by the relation between the two sections, 2Sa_22:5-46, “in the first of which David is saved by God without effort on his part, while in the second, he is both object and instrument of the divine deliverance” (Hengst.). In the same direction Riehm (in Hupfeld) well remarks that David in the whole of the first part is only passive, not active (only God’s hand saves him), but in the second part on the contrary himself as a warrior, wards off his enemies.
2Sa_22:7. Looking back at those deadly dangers, David affirms that he was driven by them to call on God, and was heard by him. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and to my God I called. Instead of “called” the Ps. has “cried,” answering to the distress that forced such a cry from him. And he heard my voice out of his palace, out of God’s heavenly dwelling, as contrasted with the depth of distress on earth, out of which he sent up to God his cry for help. Comp. Psa_16:4 : “The Lord is in his holy palace, the Lord’s throne is in heaven.” Thence appears the Lord’s help. [Eng. A. V., not so well: “temple,” for, though heaven may be regarded as a temple, Jehovah is here represented as a king, enthroned in heaven and the word “temple” would most probably be understood by English readers of the earthly building consecrated to His service. The Hebrew word means both palace and temple.—Tr.] And my cry into his ears. The Ps., has the fuller vivid description: “and my cry came before him, into his ears;” our passage has the advantage of more emphatic brevity (comp. Hengst., Rem.).
2Sa_22:8-20. Splendid poetical description of God’s help appearing in answer to his prayer, under the image of a terrible storm accompanied by an earthquake, the individual features being given with vivid coloring in accordance with the natural order of the phenomena. Comp. Tholuck, on Psalms, p. 91.—As the preceding description of distress refers not to the whole of David’s life, but only to the Sauline period, so this poetical description is not to be understood of a real storm (as in 1Sa_7:10) that terrified the enemy and saved David. Thenius, Ewald and Hitzig, indeed, so understand it, and refer it to a storm in a battle with the Syrians (2Sa_7:5), and similarly others. But, in the first place, the connection is against this; for the deliverance described in 2Sa_22:17-20 is clearly none other than the salvation from the distress pictured in 2Sa_22:5-7. Further, the figure (here poetically elaborated) of a terrible storm, is the standing form of representation of God’s glory and majesty in the revelation of His holiness and punitive justice, as in the fundamental passage, Exodus 19 (the legislation on Sinai). So are often represented God’s theophanies for the revelation of His anger, for the accomplishment of His judgments, for the deliverance of His people from their enemies and for new unfoldings of the glory of His kingdom; comp. besides Exo_19:16-18, especially Jdg_5:4-5; Isa_29:6; Isa_30:27-30; Joe_2:10-11; Joe_3:3 sq. [2Sa_2:30-31]; Nab. 1:3-6; Psa_50:2-3; Psa_77:17-19 [Psa_77:16-18]; Psa_97:2-5.—Certainly, “if the poet had meant by all this to say merely: ‘God even in the greatest need, has accorded me almighty help,’ the apparatus would in fact be too great” (Thenius). But the connection shows that he means to say more; looking at the fears and dangers of the gloomy time of Saul’s persecution, he will comprehensively set forth how the Lord visited His wrathful judgments on the enemy that so oppressed him, God’s servant, and in him endangered the cause of God’s kingdom, and how the Lord by His invincible might, saved him and gave victory to his cause. “The combination of the figure of 2Sa_22:17 sqq., with other and general features, suggests that it also has a general reference.” (Hupfeld). So Riehm (in Hupf., p. 465) remarks that the description has no historical reference, but by its poetical form, holds itself above the plane of concrete history.
2Sa_22:8. The earthquake is the sign of God’s approaching wrath; as the Lord descends from His temple in heaven to judgment on earth, the whole earth quakes before Him. There is probably in this an allusion to thunder as the voice of the approaching wrathful God, under the mighty peals of which heaven and earth shake; see Joel 2:10, 11; 4:16; [Joe_3:16]. Nah_1:5. The effect is vividly represented in the text by paronomasia in three verbs (“the earth was shaking and quaking, the foundations of heaven quailing and shaking”).—The foundations of the heaven shake together with the earth. The Psalm, in which only the shaking of the earth is spoken of, has: “the foundations of the mountains.” The mountains rising up towards heaven are, according to the natural view, regarded as the foundation on which heaven rests; comp. Job_26:11, where they are called “the pillars of heaven.” “The text of 2 Sam., represents the whole universe as trembling before Him, in order to picture strongly the terribleness of the wrath of the Almighty; so Joel. 2:10, 11; 4:16 [Joe_3:16]; Isa_13:13.” For he was wroth. The wrath of God is here expressly stated to be the cause of the trembling of heaven and earth.
2Sa_22:9. Elaboration of the preceding “he was wroth,” by the description of the approaching appearance of the wrath of God, under the figure of smoke and fire. Smoke rose in his nostril—not: “in His anger” (Sept., Vulg., Stier), but (in keeping with the parallel “mouth”) His nose, which is considered the seat of anger (so also in Greek and Latin writers); and so its snorting (comp. 2Sa_22:16), as in the case of an angry man, is the figure of God’s anger, which, as a heightening of the image, is compared to smoke, as in Psa_74:1; Psa_80:5 [Psa_80:4, Eng. A. V.; “be angry,” literally: “smoke”]; Deu_29:19. And fire devoured out of his mouth. Fire is a standing image of God’s consuming anger (comp. Deu_32:22). The smoke, as the natural accompaniment of fire, denotes the uprising and approach of God’s anger. For similar figure of smoke and fire see (besides the fundamental passage, Exo_19:18), Isa_65:5. The “out of his mouth” is parallel to “out of his nose.” The image of the mouth answers to the consuming force of the fire of wrath. The verb “devoured” is to be taken without an object (as “the enemy”); it stands absolutely (as in Psa_50:3), only the consuming power of the fire being indicated. Glowing coals burned out of him; the “glowing coals” is parallel to the “devouring fire,” adding to the picture the feature of the flames that proceed from the fire. “Out of him,” that is, out of His mouth, as a burning oven, pour the flames of the sea of fire (comp. Gen_15:17). The mouth is designated as the medium of the revelation of anger; because the fire of human anger pours from the heart through the mouth in angry words. The fire in the Lord’s mouth is symbolized “as one flaming in full glow” (Hupfeld). There is no reference here to flashes of lightning. “These are the later product (comp. 2Sa_22:13) of the flame of fire and anger, that is here just kindled” (Hengst.). But since the representation of a rising storm (breaking out afterwards in 2Sa_22:13 with thunder and lightning) is carried out in the poetical conception, so in the picture thus far the image of smoke and flaming fire is to be referred to the rising of the storm-cloud and the flaming of the sheet-lightning that announces the storm (Tholuck).
2Sa_22:10-12. Now follows the poetical description of the appearance of the Lord from heaven under the figures of the thickening and gathering clouds, on which the Lord sweeps on as on a throne, and of the storm-wind, on whose wings He rushes.
2Sa_22:10. And he bowed the heavens—a picture of the low-hanging storm-clouds, at whose approach the heaven seems to bend down to the earth. Comp. Psa_144:5; Isa_63:19.—And came down, the descent of the Lord from heaven to earth to execute judgment on David’s enemies, and deliver him. On the indication of God’s coming to judgment by His “descent from heaven,” comp. Gen_11:7; Gen_18:21; Isa_64:1.—And cloud-darkness under His feet, i.e., He thus descended. The dark, black cloud (= darkness, 2Sa_22:12) is the symbol of the terror that the wrath of God carries with it; see Exo_19:16 [Sinai]; 2Sa_20:21; Deu_5:19; Psa_104:29 (a figure of the hiding of God’s face); Nah_1:3 (“clouds are the dust of his feet”).
2Sa_22:11. And he rode on the cherub and flew.—As to the signification of the cherub, see on 1Sa_4:4. As the cherubim on the cover of the ark (Exo_25:18 sqq.; Exo_37:7 sqq.) are the bearers of the divine majesty and glory (2Sa_6:2; 2Ki_19:15; Psa_80:2 [1]; Psa_99:1; Isa_37:16), so here also the cherub is the symbol of God’s almighty power and glory, as it appears in the creaturely world, and exhibits itself as the revelation of the highest and completest being (Winer, R.-W., s. v., Hengst. on Psa_18:11 [10]). The “rode” is defined by the “flew.” The conception of flying is harmonized with that of riding on the cherub (as a chariot or throne) by the wings with which the cherub is provided.—And appeared on the wings of the wind; this, as the preceding, sets forth the majesty in which God appears in the creation in the elementary substratum of the wind, to hold judgment. Comp. Isa_5:28; Nah_1:3 : “in tempest and storm is his way,” and Psa_104:3, where, instead of the cherub, the clouds are conceived of as the vehicle, and the wings of the wind as the bearers of the appearance of His glory.—Instead of “appeared” Psa_18:11 [10] has “flew” ( ãָּàָä ). The latter (which occurs also Deu_28:49; Jer_48:40; Jer_49:22) carries out the figure of the wings of the wind; here, on the contrary, our “appeared” is, if not an elucidation (Keil, v. Leng.), a real statement instead of a poetical figure. But there is no necessity for regarding it as a scribal error (Stier, Thenius), or as a “vague, flat and inappropriate reading” (Hupfeld).
2Sa_22:12. Development of the second half of 2Sa_22:10, as 2Sa_22:11 is of the first half. And he made darkness around him booths [Eng. A. V.: pavilions]. The clouds mass more closely; their darkness grows blacker. The “darkness” is that of the clouds of 2Sa_22:10 b. He makes the cloud-darkness “booths, tents” for Himself. The Psalm has more fully: “he made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.” On the “round about” comp. Psa_97:2 (“clouds and darkness are around him”), and on the “booths [pavilions]” Job_36:29, where the clouds are called God’s tabernacle or tent.—Gathering of waters, cloud-thicket is further explanation of the “darkness” of the first clause. Instead of “gathering of waters” the Ps. has “darkness of waters” [which is here unnecessarily adopted by Eng. A. V.—Tr.]; the former is obviously more picturesque.
2Sa_22:13-15. Issuing of lightning-flashes out of this darkness, and bursting of the storm amid thunder and lightning. Out of the brightness before him burned coals of fire. The expression “brightness before him” points back to the fire in 2Sa_22:9, the flames of sheet-lightning as symbol of the divine anger. Out of this fiery brightness before him “burned coals of fire,” i.e., darted the flashes of lightning, which are, as it were, the sharpening of that flaming fire-anger into separate fiery arrows (comp. 2Sa_22:15). The “brightness before him” is not the doxa [glory] of God embracing light and fire (Hupf., Del.), because in the connection only the fire of God’s anger is spoken of, and if the singer had here had in view the light in which God dwells (Psa_104:2), he would necessarily have used the general term “glory” ( çåֹã , ëָּáåֹã , äüîá ). The natural basis of the poetical description is the blinding brightness of the flaming fire, which in a storm seems to cleave the clouds and send forth flashes of lightning.—To this refers the deviating text of the Psalm: “from the brightness before him his clouds passed away (or went to pieces),” comp. Job_30:15.
2Sa_22:14. The Lord thundered from heaven. Since lightning and thunder appear so close together, the storm is very near, God’s wrathful judgment bursts on the enemy. Instead of “from heaven” the Ps. has “in heaven.” God is here called the Most High as “the all-controlling, unapproachable judge” (Del.). The “giving [uttering] his voice” is poetical designation of thunder; see Job_37:3; Psa_29:3 sqq., comp. Exo_9:23; Psa_46:7 [6]; Psa_68:34 [33]; Psa_77:18. The phrase “hailstones and coals of fire” found in the Ps. in this verse and the preceding, is wanting here.
2Sa_22:15. And he sent out arrows; the Ps. has: “his arrows.” These are the flashes of lightning (comp. 2Sa 77:18) into which the foe-destroying fire of wrath concentrates and sharpens itself. The wrathful, punishing God is represented under the figure of a warrior armed with bow and arrows, as in many other passages, Psa_7:13-14 [12, 13]; 2Sa 38:3 [2); Job_6:4; Deu_32:23; Lam_3:12-13.—And scattered them, that is, the enemies, comp. 2Sa_22:4; 2Sa_22:18. The pronoun “them” does not refer to the arrows and lightning. The first effect is the scattering of the compact masses, into which the enemies had thrown themselves. Lightning, and discomfited (them). The Ps. has: “and lightnings much (innumerable)” [Eng. A. V. (with Kimchi) “shot out lightnings”]. The verb here is to be supplied from the preceding, as in 2Sa_22:12; 2Sa_22:14; 2Sa_22:42. “He discomfited” (so Jerome); the Ps. has: “and discomfited them,” from which the Qeri [margin] omits the suffix “them.” The further effect of the Lord’s interference is the complete destruction of the enemy; comp. Exo_14:24; Exo_23:27; Jos_10:10; Jdg_4:15; 1Sa_7:10.
2Sa_22:16. And the beds of the sea became visible. The Ps. has the weaker expression: “brooks of water.” Uncovered were the foundations of the earth, that is, the bottom of the sea, the waters being blown away; a parallel description to the preceding. In addition to the thunder and lightning from above comes the storm-wind (which accompanies the storm) and the earthquake, which has already been pictured (2Sa_22:8) as an effect of God’s anger. By the rebuking of the Lord, that is, the expression of anger in the voice of the thunder (2Sa_22:14); comp. Psa_104:7, where the waters of the chaos are affrighted at the rebuke of God (parallel to His thunder-voice). At the snorting of the breath of his nose, comp. 2Sa_22:9. The Psalm has the second person, turning in sudden address to Jehovah: “at thy rebuke and thy anger.” The “breakers of death” and the “streams of evil” have, according to 2Sa_22:5 overwhelmed David. Under the image of water-waves he has there depicted the dangers that threatened his life. This alone would prevent our supposing that we have here a mere poetic-hyperbolical delineation of the tumult of the waters as result of the storm, in order to fill out the picture (Hupf.). But the following account (2Sa_22:17) of deliverance “out of great waters” is still more opposed to this view. In his distress David was overwhelmed as by mighty water-floods. The Lord, revealing His anger against his enemies, saves him by laying bare the depths of the sea in which he had sunk, and uncovering the foundations of the earth by the storm-wind of His wrath (so Delitzsch). Thither descending from on high the Lord seized him and drew him forth from the waves, as is described in the following verses. There is therefore as little ground for the view of Hitzig, that the waves denote the host of the enemy, and the bottom the ground on which they stood and from which they were driven, as for that of Thenius, that the assumed battle was near a large inland sea (he conjectures the Bahr el Atebe near Damascus, about as large as the sea of Gennesaret), and that the description is thus to be taken “almost literally.” The interpretation of the “foundations of the earth” as Sheol (Hengst., Keil) is without support in the text.
2Sa_22:17-20. After the description of the descent of God from heaven to save, David now traces the deliverance itself, and praises the Lord for it.
2Sa_22:17. “He sent forth,” the word “hand” (Psa_144:7) is to be supplied, as in 2Sa_6:6; Psa_57:4 [3]= He reached out from on high, that is, from heaven. In spite of the “came down” of 2Sa_22:10, which refers to God’s throne in heaven, the poetical view holds fast to the conception of God’s elevation above men. “He drew me out of many waters.” The verb ( îָùָׁä ) occurs elsewhere only in Exo_2:10 of Moses, whose name is formed from it, and whose deliverance from the waters of the Nile is here probably alluded to. Luther: “he made a Moses of me.” The “many waters” [better in Erdmann’s translation: “great waters”—Tr.] are not enemies, but the deadly perils that had befallen him, comp. 2Sa_22:5; Psa_32:6; Psa_66:12; Psa_69:2-3 [1, 2]; Isa_43:2, where water is a figure of great distress and danger.
2Sa_22:18. Here David first passes from his perils to his enemies. He delivered me from my enemy, the strong one. “The song here passes from the epic to a more lyric tone, and direct discourse takes the place of figurative” (Del.). The Sing. “my enemy” does not justify the supposition of an individual enemy, but from the following “my haters” is to be taken as collective, though the name Saul rightly stands as superscription to this whole picture of distress. Because they were stronger than I, had overpowered me. God’s saving interposition was necessary, since David in his weakness felt himself overpowered by his enemies—extreme impotence requires divine help.
2Sa_22:19. Elucidation of the last words of 2Sa_22:18. They fell on me in the day of my calamity. This is not a definite day, but the time of his helplessness in the Sauline persecution; their purpose was to finish him by a sudden attack, and so self-help was impossible. And the Lord became a stay to me. After deliverance comes support. Compare for the thought Psa_23:4.
Verse 20. And he brought me forth into a large place, into a condition of freedom, in contrast with narrowness, straits. The “me” is emphatic. The words: He delivered me, here in conclusion embrace all that has been heretofore said of the process of deliverance. Observe the progression in the description up to this point: the dispersion and confounding of the enemy by the arrows of the lightning, the driving off of the water-waves and laying bare of their foundations by the storm; then the stretching forth of the hand, seizing, drawing out of the great waters, supporting the helpless man, bringing him out of straits into freeness, and thus completing the deliverance.—For He delighted in me—the ground of the Lord’s deliverance, over against the enemies, on whom had come God’s wrath and judgment. This delight of the Lord in Him (Psa_22:9 [8]; 2Sa 41:12 [11]) is based on his integrity, as is brought out in what follows. There follows, namely.
2Sa_22:21-28, the exhibition of the ground of his deliverance; it is his righteousness, according to which the Lord requited him.
2Sa_22:21. The declaration and avowal that God in saving him requited him according to his righteousness. The verb [Eng. A. V.: “reward”] (comp. Psa_7:17 [Psa_7:16]) signifies to do something to a person, whether bad or good, but with reference to his conduct as ground, hence to requite.—Accordding to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.—The hands are the instrument of action, and “cleanness of hands” signifies the purity of his actions from sin and unrighteousness. Comp. 2Sa_22:25; Psa_7:5 [Psa_7:4]; Psa_24:4; Psa_26:6; Job_9:30; Job_22:30. To this answers purity of mind (expressed in the “upright” of 2Sa_22:24), as source of purity of conduct. David often thus affirms his uprightness, for Exo_17:3-5. The truth of this testimony to himself is exhibited in his actual conduct as described in 2Sa_22:22-24, where he gives the ground ( ëִּé ) for the declaration that he is “righteous” and “his hands clean.”—[On the ethical and religious significance of this claim to righteousness, see “Historical and Theological” to this chapter, paragraph 6.—Tr.]
2Sa_22:22. He proved his righteousness by the affirmation: I have kept the ways of the Lord. “Have observed, held to,” so Job_22:15. “The ways of the Lord” are the rules of human conduct given in His law, which David’s enemies had wickedly transgressed.—And have not wickedly departed from my God, as he has kept God’s ways, so he has not sinned himself away from God Himself. The phrase is literally: “to be wicked from God,” that is, to fall away from God by wickedness. Not (as Grotius): “to be wicked against ( îִï ) God,” nor is it a designation of judgment or decision proceeding from God, as if the sense were: “I have not sinned according to God’s decision, according to His judgment I am guiltless” (Hupf.); comp. Job_4:17; Jer_51:5. Against this is both the “keeping the Lord’s ways” in the first member, to which corresponds “not departing from” the Lord, and the following reference [2Sa_22:23] to his abiding in God’s statutes and judgments.
2Sa_22:23. “For all thy judgments are before me,” that is, as a guide in my ways.—And His statutes, I do not depart from them. The reading of the Psalm: “His statutes I do not put away from me,” is not elsewhere found, while our text is the usual expression for the conception. For the thought compare the divine testimony to David, 1Ki_14:8 : “who kept my commandments, and walked after me with all his heart,” and 2Sa_15:5; “David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and departed not from all that He commanded him.” Comp. also David’s testimony concerning himself, 1Sa_26:23 sq.
2Sa_22:24. “And I was upright towards him,” that is, upright in soul, the “towards him” ( ìåֹ ) expressing the immediate relation to God, in contrast with outward works, which are done for one’s own sake or for men’s. The “with him” of the Psalm expresses still more exactly cordial communion of life with God.—And guarded myself from my iniquity, the negative side of his moral character, of which he has just given the positive side: “I guarded against committing a sin, and so contracting guilt.” A similar hypothetical expression [i. e., if I sinned, I should be guilty] is found in Psa_17:3 (Hupfeld), and so essentially Job_33:9 : “there is no iniquity in me.” David declares that he constantly watches over and restrains himself; otherwise, the assumption is, he would have fallen into sin; this is an indirect testimony to indwelling sinfulness, whereby he might have been led to sinful deed, and against which such self-guarding was necessary. Comp. Psa_51:7 [5], where David expressly declares his consciousness of sinfulness inborn in him, which is not the case here.—The historical proofs of David’s declaration of purity are given in *1 Sam. 24.26. though he at this moment may not have had all the individual facts in mind.
2Sa_22:22-24 exhibit the climax: 2Sa_22:22 proof of uprightness in outward walk, 2Sa_22:23 practice of righteousness in obedience to God’s commands as its norm, 2Sa_22:24, source of righteousness in a pious disposition directed towards God.
2Sa_22:25. Repetition of the affirmation of 2Sa_22:21 (the proof of his “righteousness” and “cleanness of hands” having been given in 2Sa_22:22-24) in the form of a logical conclusion: And so the Lord requited me, etc. Literally: “and requited me the Lord,” where the “and,” connecting this with the preceding, indicates a logical relation [the logical relation is indicated by the progress of the discourse, not by the Conjunction, in Hebrew or in Eng.—Tr.]. Instead of “my cleanness” the Psalm has “the cleanness of my hands,” as in 2Sa_22:21.
2Sa_22:26-27. General proposition, explaining and supporting the word: “the Lord requited me” by the truth, that God deports Himself to man as man to Him. This moral relation between God and man is carried out in four parallel members, “in which the divine conduct is expressed by reflexive verbs, formed from the adjectives expressing human conduct.” (Keil). The Imperfects express what is universal and necessary. The general truth that the manifestation of God’s retributive righteousness is conditioned by man’s position and conduct towards God, is set forth positively in 2Sa_22:26-27 a in relation to the pious, and negatively in 2Sa_22:27 b in relation to the ungodly. Towards the pious [better: merciful—Tr.], upright and clean, God shows Himself pious [merciful], upright and pure. The adjectives express qualities of man in relation to God; the “love” here expressed is not towards man, but towards God, ( çָñִéã , Eng. A. V. merciful), and to such God shows Himself loving. [Rather the adjectives express general qualities without any statement that they refer only to God. The first of these adjectives means either “favored, beloved” or “merciful,” and the latter sense is more appropriate here.—Tr.].—Towards the perverse thou showest thyself perverse, that is, requiting to the perverse man perverse things as the consequence of his sin, thou seemest to Him to be thyself perverse. The ungodly man, failing to recognize his own sin, thinks of God as unjust and cruel towards him. Comp. Lev_26:23-24; “if ye walk perversely towards me; I will walk perversely towards you.” Moral perversity in man produces perversity and confusion in his knowledge of God. [The thought here, however, is simply that God does evil to the man that does evil.—Tr.].
2Sa_22:28 gives the ground and confirmation of the general truth in 2Sa_22:26-27, by pointing to God’s actual conduct towards the two principal classes in the people, the humble and the proud, who represent concretely the preceding contrast between the upright (merciful, pure) and the perverse. The factual relation of this verse to the preceding is indicated in the Psalm by the initial “for thou,” while here the simple “and” is used, in order to avoid a too frequent recurrence of the causal conjunction, as 2Sa_22:29 begins with “for thou,” and 2Sa_22:30 with “for.” The word “people” is here limited (by the contrast with the “haughty” of the following clause) to a large community within the nation, characterized by the epithet “afflicted;” and the following contrast shows that they are also “humble.” “Thine eyes are against the haughty,” who oppress the poor and afflicted; “whom thou bringest down” (the verb is to be taken as relative, Ew. § 332 b, comp. Jos_2:11; Jos_3:12; Jos_5:15). The Psalm has in the second member: “lofty eyes (elevated eye-brows, sign of haughtiness) thou bringest down.” Comp. Pro_6:17; Pro_21:4; Pro_30:13; Psa_101:5.
2Sa_22:29-46. Second part of the description of the help that David received from the Lord, namely, in wars against external enemies.—Looking back at these wars, he tells how through the Lord’s help he had overcome his enemies. But he looks also to the present and to the future, declaring what the Lord, after such aid, still is to him and ever will be. So in this section occur verbs of past, present and future times.
2Sa_22:29. First, he declares what the Lord (in connection with the exhibitions of grace in the Sauline persecution) is for him perpetually. The “for” attaches this verse as the ground or confirmation of the preceding, where David included himself among the “afflicted people,” the oppressed; the Lord has helped him “the afflicted one” out of the affliction brought on him by his enemies. All these experiences of divine help find their reason or ground in the fact that the Lord is his lamp. While “light” is always the symbol of good fortune and well-being (Job_18:5), the burning lamp denotes the source of lasting happiness and joyful strength; Job_18:6; Job_21:17; Job_29:3; Psa_132:17; comp. Isa_42:3; Isa_43:17. The Psalm has the unusual expression: “thou makest light my lamp.”—What the lamp is for a man in his house, the source of joy and good fortune, this the Lord is for David: his lamp, the source of his well-being. This is the ground of David’s being called (2Sa_21:17) the lamp of Israel. This is the ground of the declaration: “the Lord is my light.” (Psa_27:1). The consequence of this is: The Lord enlightens my darkness. Darkness is the symbol of affliction—in contrast with light, without God, his lamp, he would have remained in wretchedness and ruin. His experiences are based on the general truth: it is the Lord who, as His lamp, makes even the darkness light about Him. Comp. Job_29:3. In the Psalm: “The Lord, my God, makes my darkness light.” This general declaration, proved by the past, is confirmed also for the future by setting forth the foe-conquering might which he, through the Lord’s help, has shown and will forever be able to show.
2Sa_22:30. For with thee I run against troops, with my God I leap over walls—literally: “in thee;” “David declares that he is ‘in God,’ and therefore has such power.” (Hengst). By “troops” David means the hostile bands that he has attacked on the battle-field, and by “walls” the fortified places that he has conquered. Such power of victory he has now also in his God. Since the verb “run” here properly takes an Accus., it is unnecessary to take the word in the sense “crush” (Ew., Olsh.). “Running” is represented as an essential quality of the warrior in 2Sa_22:34; 2 Samuel 1, 19, 23; 2Sa_2:18, and means (with the prep, “against” or “to”) hostile attack Job_15:26; Job_6:14; Dan_8:6. [Eng. A. V., not so well: “run through”.—Tr.]
2Sa_22:31. The word “God” is in apposition with the: “with my God” in 2Sa_22:30 (as in 2Sa_22:33; 2Sa_22:48), not nominative Absolute [so Eng. A. V.], since then the Art. [Heb.: the God] would be unexplained: The God whose way is blameless, that is, whose government is perfect. This human quality of perfectness is transferred to God, and denotes His trustworthiness. The word of the Lord is purified, that is, without guile, pure, true, comp. Psa_12:7 [6]. God’s promises do not deceive. He is a shield to all that trust in Him. He offers sure protection against all dangers. The second and third members of this verse occur word for word also in Pro_30:5. All these affirmations respecting God give the ground for the declaration in 2Sa_22:30, that he can do so great things in and with his God.
2Sa_22:32. The soleness of the Lord as such a God, is next stated as the ground (“for”) of the fact that His way is perfect, His word pure and His protection sure. The expression “rock” (comp. 2Sa_22:3) especially emphasizes the quality of trustworthiness, firmness as the foundation for immovable trust, and the ground of his help and protection. Parallel Isa_7:22; “for there is no one as thou, and there is no God beside thee.” Comp. Deu_32:31; 1Sa_2:2
2Sa_22:33 carries on the thought connected with the figure of the “rock.” The “God” here is in opposition with the “God” at the end of the preceding verse. The God who is my strong fortress. [Eng. A. V., not so well: “my strength and power.”]. On the “fortress” comp. Psa_31:5 [Psa_31:4]; Psa_27:1 [Eng. A. V.: “strength.”]. The noun “strength” defines “my fortress,” literally: “my fortress of strength,” as in Psa_71:7