Psalm 18:43

EXPOSITION

Verse 43. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people. Internal strife is very hard to deal with. A civil war is war in its most miserable form; it is a subject for warmest gratitude when concord rules within. Our poet praises Jehovah for the union and peace which smiled in his dominions, and if we have peace in the three kingdoms of our spirit, soul, and body, we are in duty bound to give Jehovah a song. Unity in a church should assuredly excite like gratitude.

Thou hast made me the head of the heathen; a people whom I have not known shall serve me. The neighbouring nations yielded to the sway of Judah's prince. Oh, when shall all lands adore King Jesus, and serve him with holy joy? Surely there is far more of Jesus than of David here. Missionaries may derive rich encouragement from the positive declaration that heathen lands shall own the Headship of the Crucified.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 43-44. If these words can be explained literally of David, they apply much more naturally to Jesus Christ, who has been delivered from the strivings of the Jewish people; when, after the terrible opposition he met with on their part, to the establishment of the gospel, he was made the head of the Gentiles who were a strange people, and whom he had not formerly acknowledged as his, but who nevertheless obeyed him with astonishing readiness as soon as they heard his voice. Louis Isaac le Maistre de Sacy, 1613-1684.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 43. (last clause). Our natural and sinful distance from Christ, no bar to grace.