Psalms 18:8

_THERE WENT UP A SMOKE OUT OF HIS NOSTRILS, AND FIRE OUT OF HIS MOUTH DEVOURED: COALS WERE KINDLED BY IT._ There went up a smoke out of his nostrils - an expansion of Psalms 18:7, "He was wroth." The imagery is from Deuteronomy 32:22; Deuteronomy 29:20. The nostrils are in Hebrew conception the seat of anger. FIRE OUT OF HIS MOUTH DEVOURED - the fire and its accompanying smoke metaphorically express the heat of God's anger. COALS WERE KINDLED BY IT or 'from it' - i:e., from His mouth. The "coals" in Psalms 18:12 are distinct from those here. Here they mean the wrath of Yahweh k

8._There went up a smoke by [or out of] his nostrils, etc _The Hebrew word אף,_aph, _properly signifies _the nose, _or _the nostrils. _But as it is sometimes taken metaphorically for _wrath, _some translate it thus, _There went up a smoke in his wrath, _which, in my opinion, is not at all appropriate. David compares the mists and vapours which darken the air to the thick smoke which a man sends forth from his nostrils when he is angry. And when God, by his very breath, covers the heaven with clouds, and taking away from us the brightness of the sun and of all the stars, overwhelms us in darkness, by this we are very impressively taught how dreadful is his wrath. By the rendering which I have given, the figure here strikingly harmonises with the one in the clause which immediately follows, namely, _that fire proceeding from his mouth consumed _The Psalmist means, that God, without

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. Psalms 18:7. 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 th...

Verse Psalms 18:8. _THERE WENT UP A SMOKE OUT OF HIS NOSTRILS_] - Or, 'There ascended into his nostrils a smoke,' as the words, literally rendered, signify. The ancients placed the seat of anger in the _nose_, or nostrils; because when the passions are warm and violent, it discovers itself by the heated vehement breath which proceeds from them. Hence the physiognomists considered open wide nostrils as a sign of an angry, fiery disposition. "This description of a _smoke_ arising into and a _fire_ breaking forth from the nostrils of God, denotes, by a poetical figure, the greatness of his anger and indignation. "_Fire out of his mouth devoured _- means that consuming fire issued out of his mouth. _Coals were kindled by it_, thus we render the next clause; but the words do not mean that fire proceeding from God kindled coals, but tha

THERE WENT UP A SMOKE OUT OF HIS NOSTRILS - Margin, “by his;” that is, as it is understood in the margin, the smoke seemed to be produced “by” his nostrils, or to be caused by his breathing. The comparison, according to Rosenmuller and DeWette, is derived from wild beasts when excited with anger, and when their rage is indicated by their violent breathing. Compare Psalms 74:1; Deuteronomy 29:20; Isaiah 65:5. AND FIRE OUT OF HIS MOUTH DEVOURED - That is, the clouds seemed to be poured forth from his nostrils, and the lightning from his mouth. So in Habakkuk 3:5 : “B

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')...

THERE WENT UP A SMOKE OUT OF HIS NOSTRILS,.... This, with what follows, describes a storm of thunder; the "smoke" designs thick black clouds, gathered together; "fire" intends lightning; and "coals of fire", hot thunderbolts; and the whole is borrowed from, and is an allusion to what was at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, Exodus 19:16; The majesty of God is here set forth in much such language as is the leviathan in Job 41:19; the "smoke of his nostrils" seems to intend the indignation of God against the enemies of David, of Christ, and of his people, and the punishment be will inflict upon them, Isaiah 65:5. The Targum interprets it of the pride and insolence of Pharaoh; and fire out of his mouth

Psalms 18:1. _I will love thee, O Lord, my strength._ «I do love thee, and I will love thee yet more and more. I bind myself to thee for the future as well as the present.» 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._ Note how David delights to heap up poetic imagery to describe his God. They who glory in the Lord would fain speak worthily of him; and because there is no one object in nature that can fully set him forth, they mention many, as David does here. Like him, if we would convey even a faint idea of what God is to us, we must think of all things that are strong, and worthy of our confidence, and putting them all together,

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...