Salmos 18

1 AMARTE he, oh Jehová, fortaleza mía.

2 Jehová, roca mía y castillo mío, y mi libertador; Dios mío, fuerte mío, en él confiaré; Escudo mío, y el cuerno de mi salud, mi refugio.

3 Invocaré á Jehová, digno de ser alabado, Y seré salvo de mis enemigos.

4 Cercáronme dolores de muerte, Y torrentes de perversidad me atemorizaron.

5 Dolores del sepulcro me rodearon, Previniéronme lazos de muerte.

6 En mi angustia invoqué á Jehová, Y clamé á mi Dios: El oyó mi voz desde su templo, Y mi clamor llegó delante de él, á sus oídos.

7 Y la tierra fué conmovida y tembló; Y moviéronse los fundamentos de los montes, Y se estremecieron, porque se indignó él.

8 Humo subió de su nariz, Y de su boca consumidor fuego; Carbones fueron por él encendidos.

9 Y bajó los cielos, y descendió; Y oscuridad debajo de sus pies.

10 Y cabalgó sobre un querubín, y voló: Voló sobre las alas del viento.

11 Puso tinieblas por escondedero suyo, su pabellón en derredor de sí; Oscuridad de aguas, nubes de los cielos.

12 Por el resplandor delante de él, sus nubes pasaron; Granizo y carbones ardientes.

13 Y tronó en los cielos Jehová, Y el Altísimo dió su voz; Granizo y carbones de fuego.

14 Y envió sus saetas, y desbaratólos; Y echó relámpagos, y los destruyó.

15 Y aparecieron las honduras de las aguas, Y descubriéronse los cimientos del mundo, A tu reprensión, oh Jehová, Por el soplo del viento de tu nariz.

16 Envió desde lo alto; tomóme, Sácome de las muchas aguas.

17 Libróme de mi poderoso enemigo, Y de los que me aborrecían, aunque eran ellos más fuertes que yo.

18 Asaltáronme en el día de mi quebranto: Mas Jehová fué mi apoyo.

19 Y sacóme á anchura: Libróme, porque se agradó de mí.

20 Hame pagado Jehová conforme á mi justicia: Conforme á la limpieza de mis manos me ha vuelto.

21 Porque yo he guardado los caminos de Jehová, Y no me aparté impíamente de mi Dios.

22 Pues todos sus juicios estuvieron delante de mí, Y no eché de mí sus estatutos.

23 Y fuí integro para con él, y cauteléme de mi maldad.

24 Pagóme pues Jehová conforme á mi justicia; Conforme á la limpieza de mis manos delante de sus ojos.

25 Con el misericordioso te mostrarás misericordioso, Y recto para con el hombre íntegro.

26 Limpio te mostrarás para con el limpio, Y severo serás para con el perverso.

27 Y tú salvarás al pueblo humilde, Y humillarás los ojos altivos.

28 Tú pues alumbrarás mi lámpara: Jehová mi Dios alumbrará mis tinieblas.

29 Porque contigo desharé ejércitos; Y con mi Dios asaltaré muros.

30 Dios, perfecto su camino: Es acendrada la palabra de Jehová: Escudo es á todos los que en él esperan.

31 Porque ¿qué Dios hay fuera de Jehová? ¿Y qué fuerte fuera de nuestro Dios?

32 Dios es el que me ciñe de fuerza, E hizo perfecto mi camino;

33 Quien pone mis pies como pies de ciervas, E hízome estar sobre mis alturas;

34 Quien enseña mis manos para la batalla, Y será quebrado con mis brazos el arco de acero.

35 Dísteme asimismo el escudo de tu salud: Y tu diestra me sustentó, Y tu benignidad me ha acrecentado.

36 Ensanchaste mis pasos debajo de mí, Y no titubearon mis rodillas.

37 Perseguido he mis enemigos, y alcancélos, Y no volví hasta acabarlos.

38 Helos herido, y no podrán levantarse: Cayeron debajo de mis pies.

39 Pues me ceñiste de fortaleza para la pelea; Has agobiado mis enemigos debajo de mí.

40 Y dísteme la cerviz de mis enemigos, Y destruí á los que me aborrecían.

41 Clamaron, y no hubo quien salvase: Aun á Jehová, mas no los oyó.

42 Y molílos como polvo delante del viento; Esparcílos como lodo de las calles.

43 Librásteme de contiendas de pueblo: Pusísteme por cabecera de gentes: Pueblo que yo no conocía, me sirvió.

44 Así que hubo oído, me obedeció; Los hijos de extraños me mintieron;

45 Los extraños flaquearon, Y tuvieron miedo desde sus encerramientos.

46 Viva Jehová, y sea bendita mi roca; Y ensalzado sea el Dios de mi salud:

47 El Dios que me da las venganzas, Y sujetó pueblos á mí.

48 Mi libertador de mis enemigos: Hicísteme también superior de mis adversarios; Librásteme de varón violento.

49 Por tanto yo te confesaré entre las gentes, oh Jehová, Y cantaré á tu nombre.

50 El cual engrandece las saludes de su rey, Y hace misericordia á su ungido, A David y á su simiente, 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.

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.