2 Samuel 22:18

_HE DELIVERED ME FROM MY STRONG ENEMY, AND FROM THEM THAT HATED ME: FOR THEY WERE TOO STRONG FOR ME._ He delivered me from my strong enemy. David's own weakness, contracted with the superior power of his enemies, was the reason of the divine interposition; and this contrast forms the leading idea in the two parallelistic portions of the verse. Perhaps the meaning would be better evolved by the following arrangement of the words:-`He delivered me from my enemy, because he was strong; and from them that hated me, because they were stronger than I.' The class from whom David had, through the help of Yahweh, been delivered comprised 'all them that hated him;' and chief among them was Saul, who, although not mentioned by name, was undoubtedly, as being formidable from his royal influence and from the number of his military emissaries, 'the strong enemy' in David's view....

EXPOSITION DAVID'S PSALM OF THANKSGIVING. This song, which is identical with Psalms 18:1; though with many verbal differences, is so universally acknowledged as a genuine composition of King David, that the objections taken by one or two critics serve only to give us greater security by reminding us that the other side has been carefully argued. The differences between its form here and in the Book of Psalms suggest many important considerations with regard to textual criticism. From the absence of manuscripts, we have very scanty means of judging of the correctness of the ordinary Hebrew text. We have, indeed, abundant proof that the Jews took extreme care of their sacred text in the early centuries of our era; but we nevertheless find, most frequently in names, mistakes which have arisen from the care

HE DELIVERED ME FROM MY STRONG ENEMY, [AND] FROM THEM THAT HATED ME: FOR THEY WERE TOO STRONG FOR ME. Psalms 18:17....

2. DAVID'S SONG OF DELIVERANCE CHAPTER 22 _ 1. The praise of Jehovah (2 Samuel 22:1)_ 2. The sorrows of the past (2 Samuel 22:5) 3. God's presence and intervention (2 Samuel 22:8) 4. Reward and approval (2 Samuel 22:21) 5. The judgment of the enemies (2 Samuel 22:29) 6. The exaltation above the adversaries (2 Samuel 22:44) 7. The praise of Jehovah ...

1 SAMUEL 22. PSALMS 18. This poem is dealt with in the commentary on the Psalms (Psalms book comments, and Psalms 18 chapter comments.)....

FROM. Some codices, with Syriac and Vulgate, read "and from". Compare Psalms 18:17....

Jehovah's deliverance of his servant for his faithfulness 17. _He sent from above_ HE REACHED FORTH FROM ON HIGH: stretched out His hand and caught hold of the sinking man, and drew him out of the floods of calamity which were engulfing him. Cp. 2 Samuel 22:5; Psalms 144:7. _drew me_ A word found elsewhere only in Exodus 2:10, and suggesting a parallel, as though David would say, -He drew me out of the great waters of distress, as He drew Moses out of the waters of the Nile, to be the deliverer of His people....

AND DAVID SPAKE UNTO THE LORD—THIS SONG— As this fine poem of David's occurs in the book of Psalms, we shall not make any remark upon it till we come to its proper place. See Psalms 18....

3. David's Song, 2 Samuel 22:1-51. _The Lord's Deliverance._ 2 Samuel 22:1-20 And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song, in the day _that_ the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 2 And he said, The Lord _is_ my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; 3 the God of my rock; in him will I trust: _he is_ my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. 4 I will call on the Lord, _who is_ worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. 5 When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; 6 the sorrows of hell comp

DAVID'S THANKSGIVING PSALM This beautiful poem has also been preserved as the Eighteenth Psalm. It probably belongs to the earlier portion of David's reign, when his conquests and God's promise (2 Samuel 7) were still fresh in his mind. See on Psalms 18....