Chapter 22

A psalm of thanksgiving for God’s powerful deliverance, and manifold blessings.

1. This song. The song also appears, with numerous slight variations, as Ps. 18. The first verse occurs as the title of that psalm. Certain other psalms that deal with incidents in David’s life carry titles that explain the historical setting of those psalms (cf. Ex. 15:1; Deut. 31:30; Judges 5:1).

All his enemies. David wrote this psalm after God had granted him a remarkable deliverance out of the hand of his enemies. That would not seem to have been until after the great victory over the children of Ammon and their allies (see chs. 8, 10). It also appears that the composition came while David could still speak before the people of his righteousness and the cleanness of his hands (ch. 22:21), which must have been before his sin against Bath-sheba and Uriah (ch. 11; cf. PP 716).

Out of the hand of Saul. These words tend to substantiate that the psalm does not belong to the last days of David’s reign, even though it here appears toward the close of the record of that reign. David’s deliverance from the hand of Saul, with his victory over the remnants of his house, was sufficiently recent to have been set forth by David as one of the reasons for the writing of the psalm. That observation would seem to require that the psalm be written some considerable time before the close of David’s reign.

2. And he said. These words appear as the last words of the title in Ps. 18. In that psalm, however, the opening words are: “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.” This sentence does not appear here. David’s expression of his deep and tender love for God forms a fitting introduction to the psalm as a whole.

The Lord is my rock. This expression is typical of David. As a fugitive from Saul, David had often found the rocks of the mountains a refuge and strength. God was to him as the strength of the rocks, providing him protection and deliverance from his enemies. The style of the psalm is particularly characteristic of David, full of grandeur, strength, and vigor. The whole spirit of David pervades the psalm, from beginning to end. He had lived so close to the eternal hills, the rocks had so long been his abode, they had come to form an intrinsic part of his life and existence. It became second nature for him to weave these figures from the natural world into the songs that poured from his heart.

3. Trust. Literally, “seek refuge.” This is the note of courage struck by David in Ps. 7 and 11. David had learned to place his faith and confidence in God. He knew that whatever man might do, God would never fail him. God was as sure as the rocks of the eternal hills. Man could place his complete trust in Him.

My shield. To anyone not a man of war the figure of a shield would have little value or meaning. To David the shield had frequently meant life itself. He knew from the most vivid of personal experiences its supreme importance in some of the critical moments of life. As his faithful shield had often warded off the thrusts of his enemies that were intended to lay him low, so God had repeatedly saved him from the enemy of his soul. The figure is characteristic of David. His songs live and breathe the spirit of the warlike life that was his as a soldier accustomed to battle.

The horn of my salvation. See Luke 1:69. The horn was a symbol of strength and power. The figure refers to the horns of beasts, that serve both to repulse and to make attacks (see 1 Sam. 2:1, 10; Ps. 75:10; 89:17; 92:10; 112:9). God was the horn of David’s salvation in that He provided him not only with protection and defense but with help and strength in active battle against his enemies.

My high tower. A mountain stronghold. In the wilds of the hills such a place was lofty, inaccessible, and safe from attack. From its heights a view could be obtained of all the surrounding area. It provided warning of approaching danger and also was a point of vantage from which to repel attacks.

My refuge, my saviour. These words are not found in Ps. 18:2. They explain the preceding declarations about God, showing how He was regarded by David. In time of need, David could flee to Him for refuge, and could look to Him as a Saviour from foes seen and unseen.

4. Worthy to be praised. The ascription of praise to the One worthy to receive it is a prominent feature in many of the psalms.

5. The waves of death. “The sorrows of death” (Ps. 18:4). David is here thinking of the dangers pressing about him, ever ready to engulf him as with a flood.

Floods of ungodly men. Literally, “the floods of Belial”—a personification of destructive wickedness. The “torrents of perdition” (RSV) were constantly sweeping about David, seeming to cut off every means of escape. He realized that Satan was warring against both his life and his soul, and that evil men, used as tools of the evil one, were ever arrayed against him.

Made me afraid. Even the greatest heroes are at times haunted by fear.

6. Hell. Heb. sheХol, the figurative realm of the dead. The term has nothing to do with a place of torment. David often experienced the nearness of death. Hardship, peril, persecution, and distress were his daily experience. These drew him close to God.

7. Upon the Lord. Constantly surrounded by perils, David came to realize, as few men have, his continual need of the protecting hand of God. Danger caused him to pray and to look to the Lord for help. The perilous life he lived helped to confirm his deep religious experience. His anxieties drew him to God and gave him a personal acquaintance with the Lord’s constant guidance and care.

Out of his temple. From God’s heavenly dwelling place He looks down upon men in their distress and sends them the needed grace and strength. David recognized the temple of heaven as the abiding place of God: “The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven” (Ps. 11:4).

8. Shook and trembled. Verses 8–16 contain a strikingly beautiful and impressive picture of God. The passage is unsurpassed in sublimity and solemnity in its description of the might and power of God. The picture is one of a terrible storm and earthquake, accompanied by dense smoke and darkness, the outbursts of lightning and deafening peals of thunder, revealing to David the personal presence of God. Undoubtedly the picture came as a result of personal experience, when to David, out in the open, exposed to the elements, and perhaps battling for his very life against his foes, was revealed the nearness of God in the salvation He brings to His own. The scene is reminiscent of the terrors accompanying the solemn giving of the law on Sinai (Ex. 19:16–18).

Because he was wroth. By a figure of speech the dreadful shaking of the earth and the terrible commotions in heaven are pictured as the result of the awful wrath of God.

9. Smoke out of his nostrils. In poetic imagery the spectacular forces of nature are pictured as proceeding from God to carry out their divinely appointed work of destruction.

10. Bowed the heavens. As in a storm the clouds descend, seeming to rest upon trees and hills, so God is pictured as bending the heavens in His wrath.

12. Darkness pavilions round about him. “He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters” (Ps. 18:11). The picture is of God taking up His abode in the threatening darkness of the storm. There He sits, unseen but near, executing vengeance upon His enemies (see Deut. 4:11; Ps. 97:2).

13. Through the brightness. Against the darkness of the storm appear blinding flashes of lightning.

14. The Lord thundered. Immediately after the lightning (v. 13) the crash of thunder is heard bringing down the judgments of God upon His enemies. Ps. 18:13 adds: “hail stones and coals of fire.”

15. He sent out arrows. These flashes of lightning, followed by peals of thunder, are also pictured in Ps. 77:17, 18. God is portrayed in poetic imagery as a warrior sending forth His arrows for the destruction of His enemies (see Deut. 32:23; Job 6:4; Ps. 7:12, 13; 38:2; Lam. 3:12, 13).

Discomfited them. The Lord accomplishes the utter rout of His enemies, and His warfare against them results in their complete destruction (see Ex. 23:27; Joshua 10:10; Judges 4:15, 16; 1 Sam. 7:10).

16. The breath of his nostrils. See Ex. 15:8, where in a poetical description of the Exodus, Moses pictures the Lord blowing back the waters of the Red Sea by a blast of His nostrils, causing the depths to be “congealed in the heart of the sea.”

17. Out of many waters. Leaving his description of the wrath of God manifesting itself in the storm, David now describes the deliverance God had wrought for him (vs. 17–20). David was delivered as from a sea of troubles.

18. My strong enemy. David here possibly refers directly to the Ammonites and their powerful allies (ch. 10).

19. They prevented me. Literally, “they confronted me.”

20. Into a large place. In contrast with the exceedingly narrow straits occasioned by the attacks of his enemies. Through God’s help the power of the adversaries was broken and David was delivered.

Delighted in me. David here gives the reason why God granted victory to him and not to his enemies. This was not an arbitrary favoritism; but God was able to work marvelously for His servant because David was cooperating with the program of heaven (see vs. 21–28).

21. According to my righteousness. Anciently God promised the blessings of health and prosperity as an immediate reward for obedience (Deut. 28:1–14).

The cleanness of my hands. The hands are the instruments of action. The Lord looks upon the deeds of men as well as their hearts (Ps. 15:2–5; 24:4, 5). At the time when these words were written David could speak openly of the cleanness of his hands, but that was not possible after his sin against Bath-sheba and Uriah the Hittite. We may have here an indication that this psalm was written after the defeat of the Ammonites and their allies (2 Sam. 10) but before David’s sin with Bath-sheba (ch. 11; see on ch. 11:1).

25. According to. See on v. 21.

26. With the merciful. In the previous verse David has been setting forth the reason for God’s rewards to him. Now he lays down a general principle, again showing that the Lord had displayed no particular favoritism to him, that indeed God will extend the same mercies and favors to all who will show themselves merciful and upright. God’s rewards are conditioned by man’s attitude toward Him and his conduct toward his fellow men. However, the experience of Job illustrates that there may be apparent exceptions to this general principle. Because of the involvements of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, affliction is at times permitted to come upon the righteous in spite of their righteousness.

27. Shew thyself unsavoury. To the perverse, God appears perverse. The wicked feel that He is unkind and unjust in His dealings toward them, when actually He is just, for He allows them to reap as they themselves have sown and permits the same treatment to befall them as they have accorded to others. Yet through it all God seeks to save them (see 24>Lev. 26:23, 24, 40–45).

29. For thou art my lamp. “Thou wilt light my candle” (Ps. 18:28). This verse introduces another section of the psalm. (2 Sam. 22:29–46) in which David tells what the Lord has done and will do for him (see Ps. 132:17; 1 Kings 11:36; 15:4).

30. Troop. Heb. gedud. A division of the army or a group of light-armed men sent against an enemy country for purposes of plunder, such as the Amalekites, who burned Ziklag (1 Sam. 30:8, 15). Against such hostile bands David had repeatedly been victorious through the help of the Lord. It required speed, courage, and power to crush such forces, and this ability had been given to David by God.

Leaped over a wall. With God’s help no barrier was able to stop David in his pursuit of the enemy.

31. Perfect. Heb. tamim, “complete,” “whole” “entire.” The emphasis of the Hebrew is not, as is the English, upon flawlessness, but upon completeness.

A buckler. Or a “shield” as in v. 3. God offers protection to all who place their trust in Him.

32. For who is God? There was only one God, and that was Jehovah. That being so, His enemies were left to their own devices, whereas He had all the power of heaven at His command.

Who is a rock? Who is trustworthy, firm, immovable, and sure, save our God?

33. God is my strength. The man who does not lean upon the Lord is no stronger than himself, but the man who trusts in the Lord has with him all the strength of heaven.

34. Like hinds’ feet. Among the rough crags and the bewildering trails of the mountains the feet of the hind were swift and sure. In the tortuous paths that it was given to David to follow, God had caused him to walk sure-footedly and safely.

35. Teacheth my hands to war. David was a skillful and successful warrior, and in this he ascribes his success to God. He did not engage in selfish or ruthless warfare, but fought the battles of the Lord, and thus he could look to God for skill as well as protection and guidance.

A bow of steel. Literally, “a bow of bronze.” Ancient warriors were proud of their strength in bending the bow. The Lord had given David strength and skill to wield successfully the weapons of war.

36. The shield of thy salvation. See Eph. 6:17: “helmet of salvation.” The best protection that any man can have for any of the dangers of life is the saying power of God.

Gentleness. Heb. Фanoth, literally, “to respond.” The meaning is obscure. Ps. 18:35 has Фanawah, literally, “humility,” which is obviously the correct reading. God’s kind and gentle condescension (see Ps. 113:6, 7) manifested to the meek and humble of earth (Isa. 57:15; 66:2) enables them to rise to the greatest heights of honor and achievement.

37. Enlarged my steps. In strait and narrow places Thou hast given me free room so that I was able to advance without hindrance. “When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble” (Prov. 4:12; cf. Ps. 31:8).

Feet. Literally, “ankles.” God gave the psalmist power to walk in dangerous places with a firm and even step; his ankles did not waver nor his feet slip.

39. Under my feet. Ancient artists frequently pictured victors standing over their enemies who lay dead beneath their feet or beneath the feet of their horses. The picture here is not one of conquest and dominion but of casting down an enemy and passing over him.

40. Them that rose up. In David’s career enemies were constantly rising up against him, but the Lord caused them to fall before the king’s might.

41. Given me the necks. Or “given me the back of the necks.” The expression means that the enemies had been put to flight before him, having turned their backs on him. Compare, “I will make all thine enemies turn their backs [Hebrew, “necks”] unto thee” (Ex. 23:27).

43. As the dust. David’s enemies were pulverized as dust, their power being changed into impotence. Ps. 18:42 has: “as the dust before the wind,” thus adding the thought of scattering the adversary as dust is scattered before the wind.

As the mire of the street. Another expression denoting completeness of victory. Not only were the enemies of David crushed to dust, they were trodden underneath his feet (see Isa. 10:6; Zech. 10:5; Mal. 4:3).

44. The strivings of my people. Ps. 18:43 has, “strivings of the people,” as does also the LXX of 2 Sam. 22:44. Since David is leading up to a climax of complete victory over his foreign foes (2 Sam. 22:44–46), some have thought it hardly likely that he would here be dealing with domestic difficulties. The wars of his people in which he was here engaged were wars that they were carrying on against other nations.

Head of the heathen. In his victory over the heathen, David had become their master and was receiving tribute from them. It was not the plan of God that the world should continue to be divided into many states constantly engaged in war against one another, but that they should ultimately be united into one nation under one king, with Jerusalem as the capital. But the Israelites refused to cooperate in God’s plan to make them the leaders and light bearers to the Gentiles. They were rebellious and proud, and in many respects no better than their heathen neighbors. Finally God rejected them and took away their privilege.

Yet under the Messiah to come as the Seed of David and through the true Israel of God—the spiritual seed of Abraham—that plan will receive a degree of fulfillment, yet different in many respects from the original design (see Rom. 9:6–8; PK 713, 714).

Which I knew not. See Isa. 55:5.

45. Shall submit themselves. Literally, “shall come cringing.”

47. The Lord liveth. David here comes to the concluding section of his song (vs. 47–51). On the ground of the victories that the Lord has given him he ascribes praise and thanksgiving to God. The Lord had not forgotten him or forsaken him—He was ever present, the living God (Ps. 42:2; Isa. 37:4, 17; Jer. 10:10; Hosea 1:10; 1 Tim. 6:17), the one “who only hath immortality” (1 Tim. 6:16). God was more than a theory or a mere abstraction to David—he had learned to know Him as a personal Friend and Saviour, and he now expresses his grateful praise to Him for His wonderful deliverance and care.

The rock of my salvation. See Ps. 89:26. David again recalls What God means to him; He is both his rock and his salvation, the God who is his strength and defense and who brings salvation to him.

48. Avengeth me. God lives and cares. He did not leave David a helpless victim in the hands of his enemies, but executed justice for him (see Ps. 94:1; Luke 18:7).

49. Bringeth me forth. Repeatedly David found himself surrounded by his enemies and seemingly helpless and within their power. But God would grant him deliverance, bringing him victoriously out of their midst and placing them under subjection to him.

The violent man. Some commentators think that this phrase applies specifically to Saul, but the application is probably general. The whole content of the song, particularly the closing section, makes it seem that David is not thinking here specifically of Saul but of his enemies in general. These men were certainly men of violence, and if they could have gotten David within their power, they would have dealt cruelly with him. From such men the Lord had graciously granted David deliverance.

50. Therefore. The “therefore” links David’s giving of thanks to the preceding narration of God’s mercies to him. The secret of David’s deep religious experience lay in the fact that he constantly kept in mind the mercies he had received from God and never ceased thanking the Lord for them.

Among the heathen. The signal victories given to David exalted the power of Israel’s God before the nations. Paul quotes this verse to illustrate how the knowledge of God would go to the Gentiles through the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 15:9). God planned that Israel should be His evangel of salvation. The psalmist frequently spoke of the glory that would come to Israel if she would accomplish her high destiny. He looked forward to the time when all the earth would worship God and sing praises to Him (Ps. 66:4), and when all the kings of the earth would fall down before Him and all nations would serve Him (Ps. 72:11). Hence the psalmist called upon Israel to “declare among the people his doings” (Ps. 9:11) and “his glory among the heathen” (Ps. 96:3), and expressed his own intention to praise God among the people and to sing unto Him among the nations (Ps. 57:9). See also Ps. 105:1; Isa. 12:4.

51. Tower of salvation. Ps. 18:50 reads: “Great deliverance giveth he to his king.” The meaning is clear: the Lord bestows the fullness of His salvation upon the king, granting to him ever greater triumphs over his enemies.

To his seed. There seems to be a reference to the prophecy of Nathan in ch. 7:12–16, that after David fell asleep the Lord would set up his seed after him and establish the throne of his kingdom forever. For this great mercy David is now thanking the Lord. The whole psalm is a grand anthem of praise and thanksgiving, a beautiful and heartfelt expression of David’s confidence in God and of his grateful acceptance of the Lord’s assurance that He would give the kingdom to him and to his seed forever.

Ellen G. White comments

36  Ev 639; ML 53; TM 104; 3T 477