Psalm 18

 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David The Servant of the Lord, Who Spoke to the Lord The Words of This Song on the Day that the Lord Delivered Him from the Hand of All His Enemies and from the Hand of Saul. And He Said:

¹I will love You, O Lord, my strength.

²The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

³I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;

So shall I be saved from my enemies.

⁴The pangs of death surrounded me,

And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁵The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;

The snares of death confronted me.

⁶In my distress I called upon the Lord,

And cried out to my God;

He heard my voice from His temple,

And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

⁷Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,

Because He was angry.

⁸Smoke went up from His nostrils,

And devouring fire from His mouth;

Coals were kindled by it.

⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down

With darkness under His feet.

¹⁰And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;

He flew upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness His secret place;

His canopy around Him was dark waters

And thick clouds of the skies.

¹²From the brightness before Him,

His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³The Lord thundered from heaven,

And the Most High uttered His voice,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe,

Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.

¹⁵Then the channels of the sea were seen,

The foundations of the world were uncovered

At Your rebuke, O Lord,

At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

¹⁶He sent from above, He took me;

He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy,

From those who hated me,

For they were too strong for me.

¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

But the Lord was my support.

¹⁹He also brought me out into a broad place;

He delivered me because He delighted in me.

²⁰The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²For all His judgments were before me,

And I did not put away His statutes from me.

²³I was also blameless before Him,

And I kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁴Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

²⁵With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;

With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;

²⁶With the pure You will show Yourself pure;

And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.

²⁷For You will save the humble people,

But will bring down haughty looks.

²⁸For You will light my lamp;

The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

²⁹For by You I can run against a troop,

By my God I can leap over a wall.

³⁰As for God, His way is perfect;

The word of the Lord is proven;

He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

³¹For who is God, except the Lord?

And who is a rock, except our God?

³²It is God who arms me with strength,

And makes my way perfect.

³³He makes my feet like the feet of deer,

And sets me on my high places.

³⁴He teaches my hands to make war,

So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;

Your right hand has held me up,

Your gentleness has made me great.

³⁶You enlarged my path under me,

So my feet did not slip.

³⁷I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;

Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.

³⁸I have wounded them,

So that they could not rise;

They have fallen under my feet.

³⁹For You have armed me with strength for the battle;

You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

⁴⁰You have also given me the necks of my enemies,

So that I destroyed those who hated me.

⁴¹They cried out, but there was none to save;

Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.

⁴²Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind;

I cast them out like dirt in the streets.

⁴³You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;

You have made me the head of the nations;

A people I have not known shall serve me.

⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me they obey me;

The foreigners submit to me.

⁴⁵The foreigners fade away,

And come frightened from their hideouts.

⁴⁶The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted.

⁴⁷It is God who avenges me,

And subdues the peoples under me;

 ⁴⁸He delivers me from my enemies.

You also lift me up above those who rise against me;

You have delivered me from the violent man.

⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks to You,

O Lord, among the Gentiles,

And sing praises to Your name.

⁵⁰Great deliverance He gives to His king,

And shows mercy to His anointed,

To David and his descendants forevermore.

Preamble: Having experienced the Wonderful, All Powerful and Absolute Sovereign Deliverance of the Lord from of all of his enemies, David’s worship here not only expresses his own heart, but through it he foretells of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s own Absolute Trust in and Praise of God the Father. This understanding was first realized for me in BBC commentary on Psalm 18, where they clearly see Christ’s Death, Resurrection, Ascension and Second Coming all foretold in these passages, to which I must agree. Therefore with that understanding already given, I think I will try to comment on these passages in such a way so as to try to give some inspiration or bring some encouragement or  offer some hope to everyone who is seeking Him, to everyone who believes in Him.

Vs. 1-2 ¹I will love You, O Lord, my strength.

²The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Is it not then when the clouds breakaway and dawning of the day appears that we rediscover our great passion and love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? For how many great Christian sermons and literary works have been written only after our having first gone down through the lowest and deepest states of despair. And how many Christian ministries and various kinds of other good works that have saved and nourished countless peoples down through the ages been born out of our own tragedies and misfortunes? This Psalm then is a celebration of those victories, of our own victories, that the Lord Jesus Christ in His perfect timing always works out for us all. For truly all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). For if God did not spare His Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things (Rom. 8:32). Therefore, when David experienced his own deliverance from certain ruin and death at the hands of wicked men, He knew that the Lord alone had done it for him. Therefore, he now exudes with thanksgiving and praise to the only One who could save him, who can and will save us too. Therefore, he rejoicefully recalls that his deliverance, his salvation, only came by the strength of the Lord’s Hand, that when he was beyond able to save himself, and completely overwhelmed within himself, then the Lord saved him! Therefore, he now boldly declares that the Lord alone is my rock (the One upon whom I stand firm, for He alone makes me stand and able to withstand, all the storms even the violent storms of this life). For He alone is my fortress, (that He is the high wall of my defense that no enemy can scale or pull down), that He alone is my deliver, for He is the only One who can and does come to my rescue. For Jesus Christ is my God and my strength, the One in whom I trust! For He is my shield and He is the strength behind my salvation, who not only enables me to do mighty deeds, but He is by His Spirit transforming me into His perfect likeness! Therefore, He is my stronghold, the only One I go to and hide in from all the plots and schemes of the enemy.

Vs. 3 “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;

So shall I be saved from my enemies.”

Thus, I also will call upon the Lord who alone is worthy to be praised, because my (our) confidence only grows in the Lord Jesus Christ as we continually experience His deliverance of our person, something which we do not always see, nor perceive, until He has accomplished it!

 Vs. 4-6 ⁴The pangs of death surrounded me,

And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁵The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;

The snares of death confronted me.

⁶In my distress I called upon the Lord,

And cried out to my God;

He heard my voice from His temple,

And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

Pangs of death, sorrows of the grave, snares of death, all these most dreadful things came upon David, and yet in his darkest hour David did not lose hope, nor his faith, but he entreated the Lord in great fear and despair of what may happen to him, and the Lord heard him, heard him from His holy temple. Here then is also a perfect picture of the Lord Jesus Christ’s own suffering and death at the hands of ungodly and wicked men, His suffering then which is clearly portrayed here through David’s own fears and faith, are then a solid basis for our own faith and confidence, that our prayers are being heard by the Lord Jesus Christ, who having conquered death forever for us is now sitting in all Victory at the right hand of God always making intercession for us.

Vs. 7-15 ⁷Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,

Because He was angry.

⁸Smoke went up from His nostrils,

And devouring fire from His mouth;

Coals were kindled by it.

⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down

With darkness under His feet.

¹⁰And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;

He flew upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness His secret place;

His canopy around Him was dark waters

And thick clouds of the skies.

¹²From the brightness before Him,

His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³The Lord thundered from heaven,

And the Most High uttered His voice,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe,

Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.

¹⁵Then the channels of the sea were seen,

The foundations of the world were uncovered

At Your rebuke, O Lord,

At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

¹⁶He sent from above, He took me;

He drew me out of many waters.

When the Lord heard his cry there was but one response to come down on the foe with overwhelming force and power. That is the beautiful imagery David is using to describe not only his own deliverance, but also of our own deliverance, whether individually or collectively. For God is above all, all the power and the might of the enemy. And so, when He moves in the defense, or in deliverance us collectively, or individually, He shakes heaven and earth to their very foundations! 

Vs. 17-19

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy,

From those who hated me,

For they were too strong for me.

¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

But the Lord was my support.

¹⁹He also brought me out into a broad place;

He delivered me because He delighted in me.

Again and again, we read of the Lord delivering His people, of His coming to our defense when we are overwhelmed and think we are about to be overcome by our enemy. Therefore David having experienced the Lord’s own deliverance from king Saul and all of his mighty forces now recalls it, recalling how the Lord delivered him from all of those who were to strong for him, from those who hated him without a just cause, for they were to strong for him, (thus so called “self made men” do not experience His deliverance, at least not until they see their own need for Him), Is it not then also a fact only when we are weakest and most vulnerable then they are emboldened to attack, to confront us in the day of our calamity, just as they confronted the Lord Jesus Christ outside the Garden at Gethsemane. Nonetheless when these things have appointed for us the Lord Himself will also uphold us, just as He has always done. Indeed, not only did He preserve David, but He brought him out from them into a broad place because He delighted in him, delighted in his person and quite possibly his Godly response to their ongoing aggression towards him (consider 1 Samuel 24:1-22; 26:1-25 etc., also remember Matt. 5:44).

Vs. 20-24 ²⁰The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²For all His judgments were before me,

And I did not put away His statutes from me.

²³I was also blameless before Him,

And I kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁴Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

Therefore, David exudes with confidence in the Lord’s Most Just and True dealings with him and with all men. nature, for He indeed rewards people for living righteously, just as He also recompenses (repays) everyone who departs from their sinful ways. For David wasn’t sinless, he wasn’t completely blameless, he was however faithful in always wanting to do and seeking to do the will of the Lord, seeking to keep His commandments and to keep himself from his own iniquity, which the Lord had showed him. Therefore, he didn’t wickedly depart from my God when he stumbled, or failed Him, instead he turned to the Lord seeking His tender mercies and recommitted himself to Him, to do His will. And so, he now boldly acknowledges all this saying, “Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.” For again the Lord fully repays everyone according to their works and according to their ways, and in this context, this is most positive.

Vs. 25-27 ²⁵With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;

With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;

²⁶With the pure You will show Yourself pure;

And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.

²⁷For You will save the humble people,

But will bring down haughty looks.

David now lays forth just how God deals with all men, by first acknowledging that it is of our Most Just Lord and Savior to be merciful with everyone who likewise shows mercy to others. For the Lord loves mercy, (not the cruel application of so-called justice), therefore, He will show Himself merciful to everyone who also embraces and extends this most noble quality to others in their time of need, (which is not to enable someone to continue on in their sin, but to enable them to escape it and change, consider John 8:1-11); just as the Lord Jesus Christ has Promised when He said, “Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.” ^{Matt. 5:7}

Having understood how God has worked mercy towards him David also came to understand how God also responds to people who seek to conduct themselves blamelessly before Him, saying that, “With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; and with the pure You will show Yourself pure” (vs. 25-26). Here though the idea is not of sinless perfection; for that quality belongs to God alone; but of one walking without causing willful offenses, of having a pure conscience, pure motives, of always taking the high road as it were. Thus, no willful sins, duplicity, dishonesty, or false fronts. For honesty and integrity are what guides and keeps the righteous well-guarded and surrounded by the Omnipresent Lord, who Himself is alone Perfect in the same. In contrast to them then are those who are devious, who like to skirt or distort the lines of truth and justice for their own gain, who are players and masters in the manipulation of others, and so with these the Lord will show them all that He Himself is shrewd; that He fully understands all their secret works and ways, and that He is fully capable of taking them down from their high places in a time and in a way that they cannot even begin to imagine or foresee. For the Lord’s eyes are always on the humble people, for His heart is always directed towards saving them. But He will bring down haughty looks, therefore the arrogance and self sufficiency of the rich and proud and powerful will be their own undoing on the Day of His wrath.

Vs. 28 “For You will light my lamp;

The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.”

Having then ever-increasing confidence in the Lord our God, for His Just and True dealings with all men, David now declares that He will give him light, that He will enlighten his darkness. Therefore, the enemy will never overcome him (or us), for whatever defeat or despair we experience in this life is just a temporary state and never our permanent residence. Therefore, everyone who believes may apply this verse as God’s Promise of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior by His Holy Spirit also bringing us out of our own darkness and into God’s Glorious and Everlasting light!

Vs. 29 For by You I can run against a troop,  

By my God I can leap over a wall.

There is then nothing then that we cannot overcome, no hurdle is too high, no obstacle is too great, (remember Phil. 4:13), for in Christ Jesus whatever our Lord God and Savior has assigned for us to do that He will also enable us to do! Therefore, put your faith in Him and get to work!

Vs. 30 As for God, His way is perfect;

The word of the Lord is proven;

He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

God ways are perfect, therefore when He brings forth His truth or lays down His foundation for us it needs no correction nor adjustment from any of us! For the Word of the Lord is proven; in every generation it is proven time and again; therefore, it needs no correction nor alteration from us! For the Lord is a shield to all who trust in Him, who trust in Him through His Word! Therefore, put your trust in Him (keep your deepest trust in Him) not in someone or something less!

Vs. 31 “For who is God, except the Lord?

And who is a rock, except our God?”

Here the Unity an Equality of the Father and Son is clearly declared. That our Foundation is One, founded by God the Father and set upon His Son. Therefore, to know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know God the Father, for you cannot have One without having all! Build your faith then upon the Rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will have God the Father (1 John 2:23)!

Vs. 32-34 ³²It is God who arms me with strength,

And makes my way perfect.

³³He makes my feet like the feet of deer,

And sets me on my high places.

³⁴He teaches my hands to make war,

So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

Truly God enables us to fight all battles, especially the spiritual battles in our own lives. Now in ancient times Israelites were chosen by God to be His people and commanded by Him to be His army, to establish His nation on earth in the land He gave to Abraham and His descendants forever. And that is why He brought them out of Egypt to destroy the Amorite races that then occupied the land of Canaan, to give them His land which He had promised to Abraham. Therefore, David being chosen by God for this very purpose to lead the nation, now acknowledges just how he became a mighty man of war and valour, which was not by his own means, but by the Lord our God. And so, this verse clearly applies to us as God our Father also enables us to fight the good fight of faith in every aspect of our lives. That said we must always remember that our own “warfare” is not fought by carnal or fleshly means, for we do not now fight against flesh and blood; but against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places, against all the forces of lies and wickedness who do Satan’s bidding through the same. Therefore, our war is not fought by physical might and power, but by God’s Word and by God’s Spirit (consider Zech. 4:6; 2 Cor. 6:7; 10:3-4; Eph. 6:10-18; 1 Tim. 1:18 etc.).

Vs. 35 “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;

Your right hand has held me up,

Your gentleness has made me great.”

In a closing crescendo of grace David also humbly delights in the shield of the Lord God’s salvation, which is His Promise of keeping and preserving us. Now in the New Covenant era, which the Lord Jesus Christ ushered in, this Promise is fully realized in all of us who believe in Him, that we have not only remission of all of our sins, but we also have His Spirit sealing and sanctifying us for the Day of Redemption (Eph. 1:13-14). For He has set us apart from those of this world for Himself, so we now are far away from His wrath, which will come upon all who do not believe and obey the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:8-10). Therefore, because God is with David, he himself knows that it is He who by His gentleness has made him great, not only in stature, but also in eyes of men.

Vs. 36 You enlarged my path under me,

So my feet did not slip.

Such then is the Goodness of God, of His watching over us, that He always makes sure that we who believe in Him will always have a way and a means to continue to follow Him. David then in experiencing this felt very secure in walking straight on with the Lord, just as you and I should.

Vs. 37-50 ³⁷I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;

Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.

³⁸I have wounded them,

So that they could not rise;

They have fallen under my feet.

³⁹For You have armed me with strength for the battle;

You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

⁴⁰You have also given me the necks of my enemies,

So that I destroyed those who hated me.

⁴¹They cried out, but there was none to save;

Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.

⁴²Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind;

I cast them out like dirt in the streets.

⁴³You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;

You have made me the head of the nations;

A people I have not known shall serve me.

⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me they obey me;

The foreigners submit to me.

⁴⁵The foreigners fade away,

And come frightened from their hideouts.

Exuding with confidence David now describes his triumphing over all of his enemies, which in may ways also foretells the Lord Jesus Christ’s own future triumph and reign over His enemies! Therefore, because the Lord was with him, David clearly saw the Lord’s hand working mightily on his behalf, defeating and subduing all his enemies before him. Indeed, in every battle he fought, he saw the Lord’s Sovereign Hand giving him the victories. His long-awaited prayers for help and for justice had now then been fully realized! And so even when his enemies tried to cry out to the Lord, the Lord would not help them, for the Lord already knew their hearts, knew that they were not coming to Him in truth (vs. 37-42).

With the Lord beside him and his enemies now behind him, David now established by the Lord went on to even greater things as he says in verses 43-45 declaring how the Lord has delivered him from the strivings of the peoples, from all of those who did not want to see him reign, how He made him the head of the nations so that all people now willfully submit themselves to him, even the threat of foreign incursion or invasion no longer existed, since the Lord had subdued even these so that they were to frightened to even try to make war with him anymore, indeed they were all surrendering to him! Therefore, David’s own Words here are perfectly suited to describe the Lord Jesus Christ’s own Future Glorious Reign!

Vs. 46-50 “The Lord lives!

Blessed be my Rock!

Let the God of my salvation be exalted.”

⁴⁷It is God who avenges me,

And subdues the peoples under me;

⁴⁸He delivers me from my enemies.

You also lift me up above those who rise against me;

You have delivered me from the violent man.

⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks to You,

O Lord, among the Gentiles,

And sing praises to Your name.

⁵⁰Great deliverance He gives to His king,

And shows mercy to His anointed,

To David and his descendants forevermore.

Truly the Lord Lives! For He alone decides the beginning and the end for us all, His people, for everyone who puts their faith and trust in Him! Therefore, He is to be exalted down here on earth by us  who believe in Him, just as He already is in heaven! For it is God who delivers us, who lifts us up, and who will avenge us (consider Rev. 6:11, 12:11, 17:6, 18:24, 19:1-5, 11-21) for He will cause all peoples to submit themselves to Him and bow before His Son (Phil. 2:9-11).

“Therefore I will give thanks to You,

O Lord, among the Gentiles,

And sing praises to Your name.”

Because just as His mercies are towards his Anointed, to his Servant King, so they are forever towards us, amen. 

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.