Psalms 18:28

_FOR THOU WILT LIGHT MY CANDLE: THE LORD MY GOD WILL ENLIGHTEN MY DARKNESS._ Here follows the fourth section of the psalm. The aid which God had given the Psalmist against foreign enemies, after he had been established on the throne, and which God would hereafter also give. That the view of God's grace to David is not restricted to the past, but extends to the future, and to his posterity to all generations, is proved by Psalms 18:50, "He showeth mercy to His anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore." How deep was the impression that God's promise respecting the establishment of David's seed in the kingdom forever, had made on David's mind, is seen in 2 Samuel 7:9; 2 Samuel 7:12;...

28._For thou shalt light my lamp. _In the song in Samuel, the form of the expression is somewhat more precise; for there it is said not that God lights our lamp, but that he himself is our lamp. The meaning, however, comes to the same thing, namely, that it was by the grace of God that David, who had been plunged in darkness, returned to the light. David does not simply give thanks to God for having lighted up a lamp before him, but also for having converted his darkness into light. He, therefore, acknowledges that he had been reduced to such extremity of distress, that he was like a man whose condition was forlorn and hopeless; for he compares the confused and perplexed state of his affairs to darkness. This, indeed, by the transference of material things to things spiritual, may be applied to the spiritual illumination of the understanding; but, at the same time, we must attend to the...

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 26:21-3. 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 brin...

Verse Psalms 18:28. _FOR THOU WILT LIGHT MY CANDLE_] Thou wilt restore me to prosperity, and give me a happy issue out of all my afflictions. By the _lamp of David_ the _Messiah_ may be meant: thou wilt not suffer my family to become extinct, nor the kingdom which thou hast promised me utterly to fail....

FOR THOU WILT LIGHT MY CANDLE - Margin, lamp. The word lamp best expresses the idea. In the Scriptures light is an image of prosperity, success, happiness, holiness, as darkness is the image of the opposite. See the notes at Job 29:2; compare also Job 18:6; Job 21:17; Proverbs 20:27; Proverbs 24:20; Psalms 119:105; Psalms 132:17;...

EXPOSITION THIS psalm has many characteristics which distinguish it, not only from all that have preceded it in the collection, but from all those which are assigned to David by their titles. In the first pace, it is the longest of such psalms, extending, as it does, to fifty distinguish it, not only from all that have verses, or a hundred and fourteen lines, but from all Hebrew poetry. Next, it is continuous, not broken into strophes (Hengstenberg). Thirdly, it appears, not only in the Psalter, but also in one of the historical books the Second Book of Samuel, in what seems to be a second edition. Further, it is in itself a very remarkable composition, being distinguished alike by "vigour and grace; full of archaic grandeur, and yet free from abrupt transitions and thoughts labouring for utterance, such as make some of the earlier psalms difficult to understand" ('Speaker's Commentary')...

FOR THOU WILT LIGHT MY CANDLE,.... Or lamp d: in 2 Samuel 22:29, it is, "Thou [art] my lamp, O Lord"; which may either design outward prosperity, and the flourishing condition of David's kingdom; or internal spiritual light, and an increase of it, by giving fresh supplies of the oil of grace, to cause the lamp to burn more clearly; or rather the prosperous estate of Christ's kingdom; and may be the same with the lamp ordained for the Messiah, Psalms 132:17; THE LORD MY GOD WILL ENLIGHTEN MY DARKNESS; or "cause light to shine in my darkness" e; that is, bring me out of darkness into light; either out of adversity to prosperity, or from walking in darkness to the enjoyment of the light of his countenance; and is true of Christ, not only of the prosperity of his kingdom

Psalms 18:1. _I will love thee, O LORD, my strength._ What a blessed «I will»: «I will love thee»! He does love the Lord, and he declares that he will continue to do so. He feels that he must do so, for the Lord has been his strength. There are many aspects under which the love of our heart is most justly and fitly given to God, and this is one of them. If the Lord has been the strength of our heart, then let our heart love him. Psalms 18:2. _The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower._ How David heaps up the epithets! When the believer once begins to praise the Lord, there is no end to it. He can never even satisfy himself; much less can he hope to rise to

Psalms 18 The Story of God's Power in Behalf of Christ _ 1. In the jaws of death (Psalms 18:1)_ 2. God appearing and delivering (Psalms 18:7) 3. God gave Him glory (Psalms 18:19) 4. His enemies subdued (Psalms 18:28) 5. The head of the nations (Psalms 18:43) Psalms 18:1. This is another remarkable Psalm. Though David wrote it not everyt

XVIII. See p. 367 for the reasons which make it impossible to ascribe this Ps. to David. Even scholars who hold traditional views admit that he cannot have written it as it stands, and that additional matter has been interpolated by later scribes. The language, which is Aramaic in its colouring, confirms the view that it is late, and so does the theophany in Psalms 18:3 when compared with Deuteronomy 32. Possibly a later writer composed it and put it by a very permissible license in David's mouth. If so, he paints David not as he was, but as a later age conceived him to be, a warrior on the one hand, a strict observer of the Law upon the other. The portrait would then agree with that given in Chronicles. It is, however, quite as likely that the Ps. is intended to glorify the success of a hero in the Maccabean age, the first time known in which legal piety was united with leadership in ba...