Salmos 18

1 Yo te amo, SEÑOR, fortaleza mía.

2 El SEÑOR es mi roca, mi baluarte y mi libertador; mi Dios, mi roca en quien me refugio; mi escudo y el cuerno de mi salvación, mi altura inexpugnable.

3 Invoco al SEÑOR, que es digno de ser alabado, y soy salvo de mis enemigos.

4 Los lazos de la muerte me cercaron, y los torrentes de iniquidad me atemorizaron;

5 los lazos del Seol me rodearon; las redes de la muerte surgieron ante mí.

6 En mi angustia invoqué al SEÑOR, y clamé a mi Dios; desde su templo oyó mi voz, y mi clamor delante de El llegó a sus oídos.

7 Entonces la tierra se estremeció y tembló; los cimientos de los montes temblaron y fueron sacudidos, porque El se indignó.

8 Humo subió de su nariz, y el fuego de su boca consumía; carbones fueron por él encendidos.

9 También inclinó los cielos, y descendió con densas tinieblas debajo de sus pies.

10 Cabalgó sobre un querubín, y voló; y raudo voló sobre las alas del viento.

11 De las tinieblas hizo su escondedero, su pabellón a su alrededor; tinieblas de las aguas, densos nubarrones.

12 Por el fulgor de su presencia se desvanecieron sus densas nubes en granizo y carbones encendidos.

13 El SEÑOR también tronó en los cielos, y el Altísimo dio su voz: granizo y carbones encendidos.

14 Y envió sus saetas, y los dispersó, y muchos relámpagos, y los confundió.

15 Entonces apareció el lecho de las aguas, y los cimientos del mundo quedaron al descubierto a tu reprensión, oh SEÑOR, al soplo del aliento de tu nariz.

16 Extendió la mano desde lo alto y me tomó; me sacó de las muchas aguas.

17 Me libró de mi poderoso enemigo, y de los que me aborrecían, pues eran más fuertes que yo.

18 Se enfrentaron a mí el día de mi infortunio, mas el SEÑOR fue mi sostén.

19 También me sacó a un lugar espacioso; me rescató, porque se complació en mí.

20 El SEÑOR me ha premiado conforme a mi justicia; conforme a la pureza de mis manos me ha recompensado.

21 Porque he guardado los caminos del SEÑOR, y no me he apartado impíamente de mi Dios.

22 Pues todas sus ordenanzas estaban delante de mí, y no alejé de mí sus estatutos.

23 También fui íntegro para con El, y me guardé de mi iniquidad.

24 Por tanto el SEÑOR me ha recompensado conforme a mi justicia, conforme a la pureza de mis manos delante de sus ojos.

25 Con el benigno te muestras benigno, con el íntegro te muestras íntegro.

26 Con el puro eres puro, y con el perverso eres sagaz.

27 Porque tú salvas al pueblo afligido, pero humillas los ojos altivos.

28 Tú enciendes mi lámpara, oh SEÑOR; mi Dios que alumbra mis tinieblas.

29 Pues contigo aplastaré ejércitos, y con mi Dios escalaré murallas.

30 En cuanto a Dios, su camino es perfecto; acrisolada es la palabra del SEÑOR; El es escudo a todos los que a El se acogen.

31 Pues, ¿quién es Dios, fuera del SEÑOR? ¿Y quién es roca, sino sólo nuestro Dios,

32 el Dios que me ciñe de poder, y ha hecho perfecto mi camino?

33 El hace mis pies como de ciervas, y me afirma en mis alturas.

34 El adiestra mis manos para la batalla, y mis brazos para tensar el arco de bronce.

35 Tú me has dado también el escudo de tu salvación; tu diestra me sostiene, y tu benevolencia me engrandece.

36 Ensanchas mis pasos debajo de mí, y mis pies no han resbalado.

37 Perseguí a mis enemigos y los alcancé; y no me volví hasta acabarlos.

38 Los destrocé y no pudieron levantarse; cayeron debajo de mis pies.

39 Pues tú me has ceñido con fuerza para la batalla; has subyugado debajo de mí a los que contra mí se levantaron.

40 También has hecho que mis enemigos me vuelvan las espaldas, y destruí a los que me odiaban.

41 Clamaron, mas no hubo quién los salvara; aun al SEÑOR clamaron, mas no les respondió.

42 Entonces los desmenucé como polvo delante del viento; los arrojé como lodo de las calles.

43 Tú me has librado de las contiendas del pueblo; me has puesto por cabeza de las naciones; pueblo que yo no conocía me sirve.

44 Al oírme, me obedecen; los extranjeros me fingen obediencia.

45 Los extranjeros desfallecen, y salen temblando de sus fortalezas.

46 El SEÑOR vive, bendita sea mi roca, y ensalzado sea el Dios de mi salvación,

47 el Dios que por mí ejecuta venganza, y subyuga pueblos debajo de mí;

48 el que me libra de mis enemigos. Ciertamente tú me exaltas sobre los que se levantan contra mí; me rescatas del hombre violento.

49 Por tanto, te alabaré, oh SEÑOR, entre las naciones, y cantaré alabanzas a tu nombre.

50 Grandes victorias da El a su rey, y muestra misericordia a su ungido, a David y a su descendencia para siempre.

Salmos 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. O, destruccin; heb., Belial
• [b]. O, call
• [c]. Lit., salvaciones

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.