Tehillim 18

1 8 (For the one directing. Of Dovid Eved Hashem who sang to Hashem the lyrics of this shirah on the day Hashem delivered him from the hand of all his oyevim and from the hand of Sha’ul; and he said) I will love Thee, Hashem, my strength.

23 (3) Hashem is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; Eli my Tzur (rock), in whom I take refuge; my mogen, and the keren of my salvation, and my misgav (high place as a refuge).

34 (4) I will call upon Hashem, Who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from mine oyevim.

45 (5) The chevlei mavet entangled me, and the floods of Beliya’al terrorized me.

56 (6) The chevlei Sheol snaked around me; the snares of mavet confronted me.

67 (7) In my distress I called upon Hashem, and cried unto Elohai; He heard my voice out of His Heikhal, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears.

78 (8) Ha’aretz shook and trembled; the foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because He was angry.

89 (9) Smoke went up from His nostrils, and eish out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it.

101 (11) And He rode upon a keruv (cherub), and did fly; yea, He soared upon the wings of the ruach.

111 (12) He made choshech His secret place; His sukkah round about Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

121 (13) Out of the brightness that was before Him there broke through barad (hailstones) and coals of eish out of His clouds.

131 (14) Hashem also thundered in Shomayim, and Elyon gave His voice amid barad and coals of eish.

141 (15) Yea, He sent out His khitzim (arrows), and scattered them; and He shot out great lightning bolts, and did put them to rout.

151 (16) Then the channels of waters were exposed, and the foundations of the tevel (world) were laid bare at Thy rebuke, Hashem, at the blast of the ruach of Thy nostrils.

161 (17) He sent from on high, He took hold of me, He drew me out of mayim rabbim (many waters).

171 (18) He delivered me from my strong oyev, and from them which hated me; for they were too strong for me.

181 (19) They confronted me in the day of my calamity; but Hashem was my stay.

192 (20) He brought me forth also into a place merkhav (spacious); He delivered me, because He delighted in me.

202 (21) Hashem dealt with me according to my tzedek; according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me.

212 (22) For I have been shomer regarding the Darkhei Hashem, and have not wickedly departed from Elohai.

222 (23) For all His mishpatim were before me, and I did not put away His chukkot from me.

232 (24) I was also tamim (blameless) before Him, and I kept myself from mine avon.

242 (25) Therefore hath Hashem recompensed me according to my tzedek, according to the cleanness of my hands before His eyes.

252 (26) With the chasid Thou wilt show Thyself chesed; with a perfect man Thou wilt show Thyself perfect;

262 (27) With the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure; and with the ikesh (crooked, perverted, false) Thou wilt show Thyself shrewd.

272 (28) For Thou wilt save the ani (poor); but wilt bring down low haughty looks.

282 (29) For Thou wilt light my ner; Hashem Elohai will enlighten my choshech.

293 (30) For by Thee have I scattered a troop; and by Elohai have I leaped over a wall.

303 (31) As for El, His derech is tamim (perfect); the word of Hashem is tzerufah (tested and proved flawless, inerrant); He is a mogen to all those that take refuge in Him.

313 (32) For who is Elohim besides Hashem? Or who is Tzur but Eloheinu?

323 (33) It is El that armeth me with chayil, and maketh my derech tamim (perfect).

333 (34) He maketh my raglayim like deer feet, and setteth me upon my high places.

343 (35) He traineth my hands for milchamah, so that a keshet-nechushah mine arms can bend.

353 (36) Thou hast also given me the mogen of Thy salvation; and Thy right hand hath held me up, and Thy lowliness hath made me great.

363 (37) Thou hast made rakhav (broad) the place for my footsteps under me, that my ankles did not turn.

373 (38) I have pursued mine oyevim, and overtaken them; neither did I turn back till they were consumed.

383 (39) I have crushed them that they were not able to rise; they are fallen under my raglayim.

394 (40) For Thou hast armed me with chayil unto the milchamah; Thou hast made bow down under me those that rose up against me.

404 (41) Thou hast also given me the necks of mine oyevim; that I might destroy them that hate me.

414 (42) They cried for help, but there was no Moshi’a to save them, even unto Hashem, but He answered them not.

424 (43) Then did I beat them small as the dust before the ruach; I did empty them out as the dirt in the chutzot (streets).

434 (44) Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and Thou hast made me the Rosh (head) of the Goyim (nations); an Am (people) whom I have not known shall serve me.

444 (45) As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me; the Bnei Nekhar (foreigners) shall submit themselves unto me.

454 (46) The Bnei Nekhar shall fade away, and come forth trembling out of their misgerot (stongholds, fastnesses, secure places).

464 (47) Hashem chai; and baruch be my Tzur; and let the Elohei of my salvation be exalted.

474 (48) It is El that avengeth me, and subdueth the nations under me.

484 (49) He saveth me from mine oyevim; yea, Thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me; Thou hast delivered me from the ish chamas.

495 (50) Therefore will I give thanks unto Thee, Hashem, among the Goyim, and sing praises unto Shimecha.

505 (51) Great deliverance giveth He to His Melech; and showeth chesed to His Moshiach, to Dovid, and to his Zera ad olam.

910 (10) He parted Shomayim, and descended, and dark clouds were under His feet.

Tehillim 18 Commentary

Chapter 18

David rejoices in the deliverances God wrought for him. (1-19) He takes the comfort of his integrity, which God had cleared up. (20-28) He gives to God the glory of all his mighty deeds. (29-50)

Verses 1-19 The first words, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength," are the scope and contents of the psalm. Those that truly love God, may triumph in him as their Rock and Refuge, and may with confidence call upon him. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it. David was a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. God's manifestation of his presence is very fully described, ver. ( 7-15 ) . Little appeared of man, but much of God, in these deliverances. It is not possible to apply to the history of the son of Jesse those awful, majestic, and stupendous words which are used through this description of the Divine manifestation. Every part of so solemn a scene of terrors tells us, a greater than David is here. God will not only deliver his people out of their troubles in due time, but he will bear them up under their troubles in the mean time. Can we meditate on ver. 18, without directing one thought to Gethsemane and Calvary? Can we forget that it was in the hour of Christ's deepest calamity, when Judas betrayed, when his friends forsook, when the multitude derided him, and the smiles of his Father's love were withheld, that the powers of darkness prevented him? The sorrows of death surrounded him, in his distress he prayed, ( Hebrews 5:7 ) . God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.

Verses 20-28 Those that forsake the ways of the Lord, depart from their God. But though conscious to ourselves of many a false step, let there not be a wicked departure from our God. David kept his eye upon the rule of God's commands. Constant care to keep from that sin, whatever it be, which most easily besets us, proves that we are upright before God. Those who show mercy to others, even they need mercy. Those who are faithful to God, shall find him all that to them which he has promised to be. The words of the Lord are pure words, very sure to be depended on, and very sweet to be delighted in. Those who resist God, and walk contrary to him, shall find that he will walk contrary to them, ( Leviticus 26:21-24 ) . The gracious recompence of which David spoke, may generally be expected by those who act from right motives. Hence he speaks comfort to the humble, and terror to the proud; "Thou wilt bring down high looks." And he speaks encouragement to himself; "Thou wilt light my candle:" thou wilt revive and comfort my sorrowful spirit; thou wilt guide my way, that I may avoid the snares laid for me. Thou wilt light my candle to work by, and give me an opportunity of serving thee. Let those that walk in darkness, and labour under discouragements, take courage; God himself will be a Light to them.

Verses 29-50 When we praise for one mercy, we must observe the many more, with which we have been compassed all our days. Many things had contributed to David's advancement, and he owns the hand of God in them all, to teach us to do likewise. In verse Verse 32 , and the following verses, are the gifts of God to the spiritual warrior, whereby he is prepared for the contest, after the example of his victorious Leader. Learn that we must seek release being made through Christ, shall be rejected. In David the type, we behold out of trouble through Christ. The prayer put up, without reconciliation Jesus our Redeemer, conflicting with enemies, compassed with sorrows and with floods of ungodly men, enduring not only the pains of death, but the wrath of God for us; yet calling upon the Father with strong cries and tears; rescued from the grave; proceeding to reconcile, or to put under his feet all other enemies, till death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. We should love the Lord, our Strength, and our Salvation; we should call on him in every trouble, and praise him for every deliverance; we should aim to walk with him in all righteousness and true holiness, keeping from sin. If we belong to him, he conquers and reigns for us, and we shall conquer and reign through him, and partake of the mercy of our anointed King, which is promised to all his seed for evermore. Amen.

Chapter Summary

To the chief Musician, [a Psalm] of David. This is the same with that in 2 Samuel 22:1, with some variations, omissions, and alterations:

the servant of the Lord; not only by creation, nor merely by regeneration, but by office, as king of Israel, being put into it by the Lord, and acting in it in submission and obedience to him; just as the apostles under the New Testament, on account of their office, so style themselves in their epistles:

who spake unto the Lord the words of this song; that is, who delivered and sung this song in so many express words, in public, before all the congregation of Israel, to the honour and glory of God:

in the day [that] the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, Not that this psalm was composed and sung the selfsame day that David was delivered from Saul, and set upon the throne; for it seems to have been written in his old age, at the close of his days; for immediately after it, in the second book of Samuel, it follows, "now these be the last words of David," 2 Samuel 23:1: but the sense is, that whereas David had many enemies, and particularly Saul, who was his greatest enemy, the Lord delivered him from them all, and especially from him, from him first, and then from all the rest; which when he reflected upon in his last days, he sat down and wrote this psalm, and then sung it in public, having delivered it into the hands of the chief musician for that purpose. There are two passages cited out of it in the New Testament, and applied to Christ; Psalm 18:2, in Hebrews 2:13, and Psalm 18:49 in Romans 15:9; and there are many things in it that very well agree with him; he is eminently the "servant" of the Lord as Mediator; he was encompassed with the snares and sorrows of death and hell, and with the floods of ungodly men, when in the garden and on the cross God was his helper and deliverer, as man; and he was victorious over all enemies, sin, Satan, the world, death and hell; as the subject of this psalm is all along represented: and to Christ it does most properly belong to be the head of the Heathen, whose voluntary subjects the Gentiles are said to be, Psalm 18:43; and which is expressed in much the same language as the like things are in Isaiah 55:4; which is a clear and undoubted prophecy of the Messiah; to which may be added, that the Lord's Anointed, the King Messiah, and who is also called David, is expressly mentioned in Psalm 18:50; and which is applied to the Messiah by the Jews {q} as Psalm 18:32 is paraphrased of him by the Targum on it;

and he said; the following words:

{q} Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 2. & Midrash Tillim in Tzeror Hammor, fol. 47. 3.