{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/kad/psa018.htm","path":"bib/cmt/kad/psa018.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/kad/psa018.htm","text":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78]\nDavid's Hymnic Retrospect of a Life Crowned with Many Mercies\nNext to a \u05ea\u05bc\u05e4\u05bc\u05dc\u05bc\u05d4 of David comes a \u05e9\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4 (nom. unitatis from \u05e9\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8), which is in many ways both in words and thoughts (Symbolae p. 49) interwoven with the former. It is the longest of all the hymnic Psalms, and bears the inscription: To the Precentor, by the servant of Jahve, by David, who spake unto Jahve the words of this song in the day that Jahve had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Sa\u00fbl: then he said. The original inscription of the Psalm in the primary collection was probably only \u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05d3 \u05dc\u05de\u05e0\u05e6\u05d7 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d1\u05d3 \u05d4, like the inscription of Psa 36:1-12. The rest of the inscription resembles the language with which songs of this class are wont to be introduced in their connection in the historical narrative, Exo 15:1; Num 21:17, and more especially Deu 31:30. And the Psalm before us is found again in 2 Sam 22, introduced by words, the manifestly unaccidental agreement of which with the inscription in the Psalter, is explained by its having been incorporated in one of the histories from which the Books of Samuel are extracted, - probably the Annals (Dibre ha-Jamim) of David. From this source the writer of the Books of Samuel has taken the Psalm, together with that introduction; and from this source also springs the historical portion of the inscription in the Psalter, which is connected with the preceding by \u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8.\nDavid may have styled himself in the inscription \u05e2\u05d1\u05d3 \u05d4, just as the apostles call themselves \u03b4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9 \u1f38\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03a7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6. He also in other instances, in prayer, calls himself \"the servant of Jahve,\" Psa 19:12, Psa 19:14; Psa 144:10; Sa2 7:20, as every Israelite might do; but David, who is the first after Moses and Joshua to bear this designation or by-name, could to so in an especial sense. For he, with whom the kingship of promise began, marks an epoch in his service of the work of God no less than did Moses, through whose mediation Israel received the Law, and Joshua, through whose instrumentality they obtained the Land of promise.\nThe terminology of psalm-poesy does not include the word \u05e9\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4, but only \u05e9\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8. This at once shows that the historical portion of the inscription comes from some other source. \u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd is followed, not by the infin. \u05d4\u05e6\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc: on the day of deliverance, but by the more exactly plusquamperf. \u05d4\u05e6\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc: on the day (\u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd = at the time, as in Gen 2:4, and frequently) when he had delivered - a genitival (Ges. 116, 3) relative clause, like Psa 138:3; Exo 6:28; Num 3:1, cf. Psa 56:10. \u05de\u05d9\u05bc\u05d3 alternates with \u05de\u05db\u05bc\u05e3 in this text without any other design than that of varying the expression. The deliverance out of the hand of Saul is made specially prominent, because the most prominent portion of the Psalm, Psa 18:5, treats of it. The danger in which David the was placed, was of the most personal, the most perilous, and the most protracted kind. This prominence was of great service to the collector, because the preceding Psalm bears the features of this time, the lamentations over which are heard there and further back, and now all find expression in this more extended song of praise.\nOnly a fondness for doubt can lead any one to doubt the Davidic origin of this Psalm, attested as it is in two works, which are independent of one another. The twofold testimony of tradition is supported by the fact that the Psalm contains nothing that militates against David being the author; even the mention of his own name at the close, is not against it (cf. Kg1 2:45). We have before us an Israelitish counterpart to the cuneiform monumental inscriptions, in which the kings of worldly monarchies recapitulate the deeds they have done by the help of their gods. The speaker is a king; the author of the Books of Samuel found the song already in existence as a Davidic song; the difference of his text from that which lies before us in the Psalter, shows that at that time it had been transmitted from some earlier period; writers of the later time of the kings here and there use language which is borrowed from it or are echoes of it (comp. Pro 30:5 with Psa 18:31; Hab 3:19 with Psa 18:34); it bears throughout the mark of the classic age of the language and poetry, and \"if it be not David's, it must have been written in his name and by some one imbued with his spirit, and who could have been this contemporary poet and twin-genius?\" (Hitzig). All this irresistibly points us to David himself, to whom really belong also all the other songs in the Second Book of Samuel, which are introduced as Davidic (over Saul and Jonathan, over Abner, etc.). This, the greatest of all, springs entirely from the new self-consciousness to which he was raised by the promises recorded in 2 Sam 7; and towards the end, it closes with express retrospective reference to these promises; for David's certainty of the everlasting duration of his house, and God's covenant of mercy with his house, rests upon the announcement made by Nathan.\nThe Psalm divides into two halves; for the strain of praise begins anew with Psa 18:32, after having run its first course and come to a beautiful close in Psa 18:31. The two halves are also distinct in respect of their artificial form. The strophe schema of the first is: 6. 8. 8. 6. 8 (not 9). 8. 8. 8. 7. The mixture of six and eight line strophes is symmetrical, and the seven of the last strophe is nothing strange. The mixture in the second half on the contrary is varied. The art of the strophe system appears here, as is also seen in other instances in the Psalms, to be relaxed; and the striving after form at the commencement has given way to the pressure and crowding of the thoughts.\nThe traditional mode of writing out this Psalm, as also the Cantica, 2 Sam 22 and Judg 5, is \"a half-brick upon a brick, and a brick upon a half-brick\" (\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8\u05d7 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d2\u05d1\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d2\u05d1\u05d9 \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05d7): i.e., one line consisting of two, and one of three parts of a verse, and the line consisting of the three parts has only one word on the right and on the left; the whole consequently forms three columns. On the other hand, the song in Deut 32 (as also Jos 12:9., Est 9:7-10) is to be written \"a half-brick upon a half-brick and a brick upon a brick,\" i.e., in only two columns, cf. infra p. 168.\nPsalm 18 according to the Text of 2 Samuel 22\nOn the differences of the introductory superscription, see on Psa 18:1. The relation of the prose accentuation of the Psalm in 2 Sam 22 to the poetical accentuation in the Psalter is instructive. Thus, for example, instead of Mercha mahpach. (Olewejored) in the Psalter we here find Athnach; instead of the Athnach following upon Mercha mahpach., here is Zakeph (cf. Psa 18:7, Psa 18:16, Psa 18:31 with Sa2 22:7, Sa2 22:16, Sa2 22:31); instead of Rebia mugrash, here Tiphcha (cf. Psa 18:4 with Sa2 22:4); instead of Pazer at the beginning of a verse, here Athnach (cf. Psa 18:2 with Sa2 22:2).\n(Note: Vid., Baer's Accentsystem xv., and Thorath Emeth iii. 2 together with S. 44, Anm.)\nThe peculiar mode of writing the stichs, in which we find this song in our editions, is the old traditional mode. If a half-line is placed above a half-line, so that they form two columns, it is called \u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d2\u05d1\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05d7 \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d2\u05d1\u05d9 \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05d7, brick upon brick, a half-brick upon a half-brick, as the song Haazinu in Deut 32 is set out in our editions. On the other hand if the half-lines appear as they do here divided and placed in layers one over another, it is called \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05d7 \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d2\u05d1\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d2\u05d1\u05d9 \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05d7. According to Megilla 16b all the cantica in the Scriptures are to be written thus; and according to Sofrim xiii., Ps 18 has this form in common with 2 Sam 22.\nThis strophe is stunted by the falling away of its monostichic introit, Psa 18:2. In consequence of this, the vocatives in Psa 18:2. are deprived of their support and lowered to substantival clauses: Jahve is my Rock, etc., which form no proper beginning for a hymn. Instead of \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05e4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d8\u05d9 we have, as in Psa 144:2, \u05d5\u05de\u05e4\u05dc\u05d8\u05d9\u05be\u05dc\u05d9; and instead of \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9 \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9 we find \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9, which is contrary to the usual manner of arranging these emblematical names. The loss the strophe sustains is compensated by the addition: and my Refuge, my Saviour, who savest me from violence. In Sa2 22:4 as in Sa2 22:49 the non-assimilated \u05de\u05df (cf. Sa2 22:14, Psa 30:4; Psa 73:19) is shortened into an assimilated one. May \u05dc\u05bc\u05d9 perhaps be the remains of the obliterated \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9, and \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9, as it were, the clothing of the \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9 which was then left too bare?\nThe connection of this strophe with the preceding by \u05db\u05bc\u05d9 accords with the sense, but is tame. On the other hand, the reading \u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9 instead of \u05d7\u05d1\u05dc\u05d9 (even though the author of Psa 116:3 may have thus read it) is commended by the parallelism, and by the fact, that now the latter figure is not repeated in Sa2 22:5, Sa2 22:6. \u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 are not necessarily waves that break upon the shore, but may also be such as break one upon another, and consequently \u05d0\u05e4\u05e4\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9 is not inadmissible. The \u05d5 of \u05d5\u05e0\u05d7\u05dc\u05d9, which is not wanted, is omitted. Instead of the fuller toned from \u05e1\u05d1\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9, which is also more commensurate with the closing cadence of the verse, we have here the usual syncopated \u05e1\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9 (cf. Psa 118:11). The repetition of the \u05d0\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 (instead of \u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2) is even more unpoetical than the repetition of \u05d7\u05d1\u05dc\u05d9 would be. On the other hand, it might originally have been \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e2 instead of \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e2; without \u05d5 it is an expression (intended retrospectively) of what takes place simultaneously, with \u05d5 it expresses the principal fact. The concluding line \u05d5\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d0\u05d6\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5 is stunted: the brief substantival clause is not meaningless (cf. Job 15:21; Isa 5:9), but is only a fragment of the more copious, fuller toned conclusion of the strophe which we find in the Psalter.\nThe Ker\u05de here obliterates the significant alternation of the Kal and Hithpa. of \u05d2\u05bc\u05e2\u05e9\u05c1. Instead of \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9 we have the feminine form of the plural \u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea (as in both texts in Sa2 22:16) without \u05d5. Instead of the genitive \u05d4\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd, by an extension of the figure, we have \u05d4\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d9\u05dd (cf. the pillars, Job 26:11), which is not intended of the mountains as of Atlasses, as it were, supporting the heavens, but of the points of support and central points of the heavens themselves: the whole universe trembles.\nInstead of the pictorial \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05d3\u05d0 (Deu 28:49, and hence in Jeremiah), which is generally used of the flight of the eagle, we have the plain, uncoloured \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05e8\u05d0 He appeared. Instead of \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05ea, which is intended as an aorist, we meet the more strictly regular, but here, where so many aorists with \u05d5 come together, less poetical \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05ea. In Sa2 22:12 the rise and fall of the parallel members has grown over till it forms one heavy clumsy line: And made darkness round about Him a pavilion (\u05e1\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05ea). But the \u1f01\u03c0. \u03bb\u03b5\u03b3. \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8\u05ea, to which the signification of a \"massive gathering together\" is secured by the Arabic, is perhaps original. The word Arab. \u1e25\u0161r, frequently used in the Koran of assembling to judgment, with the radical signification stipare, cogere (to crowd together, compress) which is also present in Arab. \u1e25\u0161\u00e2, \u1e25\u00e2\u0161, \u1e25\u0161d, is here used like \u1f00\u03b3\u03b5\u03af\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd in the Homeric \u03bd\u03b5\u03c6\u03b5\u03bb\u03b7\u03b3\u03c1\u03ad\u03c4\u03b1 (the cloud-gatherer).\n(Note: Midrash and Talmud explain it according to the Aramaic \"a straining of the clouds,\" inasmuch as the clouds, like a sieve, let the drops trickle down to the earth, falling close upon each other and yet separately (B. Taanth 9b: \u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea \u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d2\u05d1\u05d9 \u05e7\u05e8\u05e7\u05e2). Kimchi combines \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8 with \u05e7\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8. But the ancient Arabic \u1e25\u0161r is the right key to the word. The root of \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05da and \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05bc\u05d4 is perhaps the same (cf. Exo 10:21).)\nSa2 22:13 is terribly mutilated. Of \u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e2\u05e8\u05e8\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d3 \u05d5 of the other text there are only the four letters \u05d1\u05bc\u05e2\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc (as in Sa2 22:9) left.\nInstead of \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05e8\u05e2\u05dd we find \u05d9\u05e8\u05e2\u05dd, which is less admissible here, where a principal fact is related and the description is drawing nearer and nearer to its goal. Instead of \u05de\u05df\u05be\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d9\u05dd the other text has \u05d1\u05bc\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05d9\u05dd; in Psa 30:4 also, \u05de\u05df is retained without being assimilated before \u05e9\u05c1. But the fact, however, that the line \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d2\u05d7\u05dc\u05d9\u05be\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1 is wanting, is a proof, which we welcome, that it is accidentally repeated from the preceding strophe, in the other text. On the other hand, \u05d7\u05e6\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd is inferior to \u05d7\u05e6\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5; \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u05e8\u05d1 is corrupted into a tame \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05e7; and the Ker \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05d4\u05dd erroneously assumes that the suffix of \u05d5\u05d9\u05e4\u05d9\u05e6\u05dd refers to the arrows, i.e., lightnings. Again on the other hand, \u05d0\u05e4\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9 \u05d9\u05dd, channels of the sea, is perhaps original; \u05de\u05d9\u05dd in this connection expresses too little, and, as being the customary word in combination with \u05d0\u05e4\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9 (Psa 42:2; Joe 1:20), may easily have been substituted after it. At any rate \u05d9\u05dd and \u05ea\u05bc\u05d1\u05dc form a more exact antithesis. \u05d9\u05d2\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc instead of \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05d2\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc is the same in meaning. The close of the strophe is here also weakened by the obliteration of the address to God: by (\u05d1\u05bc instead of the \u05de of the other text) the threatening of Jahve, at the snorting of His breath of anger. The change of the preposition in this surge (so-to-speak) of the members of the verse is rather interruptive than pleasing.\nThe variant \u05de\u05e9\u05bc\u05c2\u05e0\u05d0\u05d9 instead of \u05d5\u05de\u05e9\u05c2\u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 is unimportant; but \u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2\u05df instead of \u05dc\u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2\u05df, for a support, is less pleasing both as it regards language and rhythm. The resolution of \u05d5\u05d9\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 into \u05d0\u05ea\u05d9...\u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05e6\u05d0 is a clumsy and needless emphasising of the me.\nInstead of \u05db\u05bc\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05d9, we find \u05db\u05bc\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05ea\u05d9 here and in Sa2 22:25, contrary to usage of the language of the Psalms (cf. Psa 7:9 with Kg1 8:32). Instead of the poetical \u05d0\u05e1\u05d9\u05e8 \u05de\u05e0\u05bc\u05d9 (Job 27:5; Job 23:12) we have \u05d0\u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05de\u05de\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d4 (with the fem. used as a neuter), according to the common phrase in Kg2 3:3, and frequently (cf. Deu 5:32). Instead of \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d9, the not less (e.g., Psa 102:8) usual \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4; and instead of \u05d5\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05bc\u05e8, the form with ah of direction which occurs very frequently with the first person of the fut. convers. in the later Hebrew, although it does also occur even in the older Hebrew (Psa 3:6; Psa 7:5, Gen 32:6; Job 19:20). And instead of \u05e2\u05de\u05bc\u05d5 we find \u05dc\u05d5, which does not commend itself, either as a point of language or of rhythm; and by comparison with Sa2 22:26, Sa2 22:27, it certainly is not original.\nOn \u05db\u05bc\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05ea\u05d9 see Sa2 22:21. \u05db\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 is without example, since elsewhere (\u05db\u05bc\u05e4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd) \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd is the only expression for innocence. In the equally remarkable expression \u05d2\u05bc\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05e8 \u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05d9\u05dd (the upright \"man of valour\"), \u05d2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8 is used just as in the expression \u05d2\u05bc\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc. The form \u05ea\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8, has only the sound of an assimilated Hithpa. like \u05ea\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05bc\u05dd (= \u05ea\u05ea\u05ea\u05de\u05dd), and is rather a reflexive of the Hiph. \u05d4\u05d1\u05e8 after the manner of the Aramaic Ittaphal (therefore = \u05ea\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05db\u05e8\u05e8); and the form \u05ea\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05e4\u05bc\u05dc sounds altogether like a Hithpa. from \u05ea\u05bc\u05e4\u05dc (thou showest thyself insipid, absurd, foolish), but - since \u05ea\u05bc\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4 cannot be ascribed to God (Job 1:22), and is even unseemly as an expression - appears to be treated likewise as an Ittaphal with a kind of inverted assimilation = \u05ea\u05bc\u05ea\u05d4\u05e4\u05ea\u05bc\u05dc (Bttcher). They are contractions such as are sometimes allowed by the dialect of the common people, though contrary to all rules. \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea instead of \u05db\u05bc\u05d9 at the beginning of Sa2 22:28 changes what is confirmatory into a mere continuation of the foregoing. One of the most sensible variations is the change of \u05d5\u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05e8\u05de\u05d5\u05ea to \u05d5\u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05e8\u05de\u05d9\u05dd. The rendering: And Thine eyes (are directed down) upon the haughty that Thou mayst bring (them) low (Stier, Hengst., and others), violates the accentuation and is harsh so far as the language is concerned (\u05ea\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05e4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc for \u05dc\u05d4\u05e9\u05c1\u05e4\u05bc\u05dc\u05dd). Hitzig renders it, according to the accents: And Thou lowerest Thine eyes against the proud, \u05d4\u05e9\u05c1\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc \u05e2\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd = \u05d4\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd (Jer 3:12). But one would expect \u05d1\u05bc instead of \u05e2\u05dc, if this were the meaning. It is better to render it according to Psa 113:6 : And Thou dost cast down Thine eyes upon the haughty, in which rendering the haughty are represented as being far beneath Jahve notwithstanding their haughtiness, and the \"casting down or depressing of the eyes\" is an expression of the utmost contempt (despectus).\nHere in Sa2 22:29 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8 has been lost, for Jahve is called, and really is, \u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 in Psa 27:1, but not \u05e0\u05e8. The form of writing \u05d2\u05d9\u05e8 is an incorrect wavering between \u05e0\u05e8 and \u05e0\u05d9\u05e8. The repetition \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4, by which the loss of \u05ea\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8, and of \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 in Sa2 22:29, is covered, is inelegant. We have \u05d1\u05bc\u05db\u05d4 here instead of \u05d1\u05bc\u05da, as twice besides in the Old Testament. The form of writing \u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e5, as Isa 42:4 shows, does not absolutely require that we should derive it from \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e5; nevertheless \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e5 can be joined with the accusative just as well as \u05d3\u05bc\u05dc\u05bc\u05d2, in the sense of running against, rushing upon; therefore, since the parallelism is favourable, it is to be rendered: by Thee I rush upon a troop. The omission of the \u05d5 before \u05d1\u05bc\u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 is no improvement to the rhythm.\nThe variety of expression in Sa2 22:32 which has been preserved in the other text is lost here. Instead of \u05d4\u05de\u05d0\u05d6\u05e8\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc we find, as if from a faded MS, \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6\u05d9 (according to Norzi \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6\u05d9) my refuge (lit., hiding) of strength, i.e., my strong refuge, according to a syntactically more elegant style of expression (= \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05d6\u05d9 \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05d6 \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc), like Psa 71:7; Lev 6:3; Lev 26:42; vid., N\u05d4gelsbach \u059763, g, where it is correctly shown, that this mode of expression is a matter of necessity in certain instances.\n(Note: In the present instance \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05d6 \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9, like \u05de\u05d7\u05e1\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d6\u05bc\u05d9 in Psa 71:7 (cf. Eze 16:27; Eze 18:7, and perhaps Hab 3:8) would not be inadmissible, although in the other mode of expression greater prominence is given to the fact of its being provided and granted by God. But in cases like the following it would be absolutely inadmissible to append the suffix to the nom. rectum, viz., \u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05d0\u05d9 \u05e9\u05c1\u05e7\u05e8, Psa 38:20; \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e2\u05e7\u05d1 my covenant with Jacob, Lev 26:42; \u05de\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d3 his garment of linen, Lev 6:3; \u05db\u05bc\u05ea\u05d1\u05dd \u05d4\u05de\u05bc\u05ea\u05d9\u05d7\u05e9\u05c2\u05d9\u05dd their ancestral register, Ezr 2:62; and it is probable that this transference of the pronominal suffix to the nom. regens originated in instances like these, where it was a logical necessary and then became transferred to the syntax ornata. At the same time it is clear from this, that in cases like \u05e9\u05c2\u05e0\u05d0\u05d9 \u05e9\u05c1\u05e7\u05e8, and consequently also \u05e9\u05c2\u05e0\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e0\u05bc\u05dd, the second notion is not conceived as an accusative of more precise definition, but as a governed genitive.)\nThe form of writing, \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6\u05d9, seems here to recognise a \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05d6, a hiding-place, refuge, = Arab. m\u201b\u00e2d, which is different from \u05de\u05e2\u05d6 a fortress (from \u05e2\u05d6\u05d6); but just as in every other case the punctuation confuses the two substantives (vid., on Psa 31:3), so it does even here, since \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05d6, from \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6, ought to be inflected \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6\u05d9, like \u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1\u05d9, and not \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6\u05d9. Nevertheless the plena scriptio may avail to indicate to us, that here \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05d6 is intended to by a synonym of \u05de\u05d7\u05e1\u05d4. Instead of (\u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9) \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05df we have \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05e8 here; perhaps it is He let, or caused, my way to be spotless, i.e., made it such. Thus Ewald renders it by referring to the modern Arabic hll\u00e2, to let, cause Germ. lassen, French faire = to make, effect; even the classic ancient Arabic language uses trk (Lassen) in the sense of j'l (to make), e.g., \"I have made (Arab. taraktu) the sword my camp-companion,\" i.e., my inseparable attendant (lit., I have caused it to be such), as it is to be translated in Nldeck'e Beitrge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber, S. 131.\n(Note: Ibid. S. 133, Z. 13 is, with Fleischer, to be rendered: ye have made (Arab. trktm) my milk camels restless, i.e., caused them to be such, by having stolen them and driven them away so that they now yearn after home and their young ones.)\nOr does \u05d4\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 retain its full and proper meaning \"to unfetter?\" This is more probable, since the usage of Hebrew shows no example of \u05d4\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 in the post-biblical signification \"to allow, permit,\" which ought to form the transition to \"to cause to be = to effect.\" Therefore we may compare on the contrary Koran ix. 15, challu seb\u0131\u0302-lahum loose their way, i.e., let them go forth free, and render it: He unfettered, unbound, left to itself, let my way go on as faultless (unobstructed). Hitzig, following the Chethb \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d5, renders it differently: \"and made the upright skip on his way.\" But \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05dd beside \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d5 is to be regarded at the outset as its predicate, and \u05d4\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 means \"to cause to jump up,\" Hab 3:6, not \"to skip along.\" Nevertheless, the Chethb \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d5, which, from the following Chethb \u05e8\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5, bears the appearance of being designed, at any rate seems to have understood \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05dd personally: He unfettered (expedit) the upright his way, making his feet like etc. The reading \u05d5\u05e0\u05d7\u05ea instead of \u05d5\u05e0\u05d7\u05ea\u05d4, although admissible so far as the syntax is concerned (Ges. 147, a), injures the flow of the rhythm.\nThe pentastich is stunted here by the falling away of the middle line of Sa2 22:36 : and Thy right hand supported me. Instead of the expressive \u05d5\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05da (and Thy condescension) we find here \u05d5\u05e2\u05e0\u05ea\u05da which, in accordance with the usage of the language, does not mean Thy being low (Hengst.), but rather: Thy labour (Bttch.), or more securely: Thine answering, lxx \u1f51\u03c0\u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u03ae (i.e., the actual help, wherewith Thou didst answer my prayer). Instead of \u05ea\u05bc\u05d7\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9 we find, as also in Sa2 22:40, Sa2 22:48, \u05ea\u05bc\u05d7\u05ea\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9 with a verbal suffix, like \u05d1\u05bc\u05e2\u05d3 in Psa 139:11; it is perhaps an inaccuracy of the common dialect, which confused the genitive and accusative suffix. But instances of this are not wanting even in the written language, Ges. 103, rem. 3.\nThe cohortative \u05ea\u05bc\u05e8\u05d3\u05bc\u05e4\u05ea, as frequently, has the sense of a hypothetical antecedent, whether it refers to the present, as in Psa 139:8, or to the past as in Psa 73:16 and here: in case I pursued. In the text in the Psalter it is \u05d5\u05d0\u05e9\u05bc\u05c2\u05d9\u05d2\u05dd, here it is \u05d5\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d9\u05d3\u05dd, by which the echo of Ex 15 is obliterated. And after \u05e2\u05d3\u05be\u05db\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd how tautological is the \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05bc\u05dd which is designed to compensate for the shortening of the verse! The verse, to wit, is shortened at the end, \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0\u05be\u05d9\u05db\u05dc\u05d5 \u05e7\u05d5\u05dd being transformed into \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05df. Instead of \u05d9\u05e4\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc, \u05d5\u05d9\u05e4\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc is not inappropriate. Instead of \u05d5\u05ea\u05bc\u05d0\u05d6\u05bc\u05e8\u05e0\u05d9 we find \u05d5\u05ea\u05bc\u05d6\u05e8\u05e0\u05d9, by a syncope that belongs to the dialect of the people, cf. \u05ea\u05bc\u05d6\u05dc\u05d9 for \u05ea\u05bc\u05d0\u05d6\u05dc\u05d9 Jer 2:36, \u05de\u05dc\u05bc\u05e3 for \u05de\u05d0\u05dc\u05bc\u05e3 Job 35:11. Of the same kind is \u05ea\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05d4 = \u05e0\u05ea\u05ea\u05bc\u05d4, an apocope taken from the mouths of the people, with which only \u05e8\u05d3, Jdg 19:11, if equivalent to \u05d9\u05e8\u05d3, can be compared. The conjunctive \u05d5 of \u05d5\u05de\u05e9\u05c2\u05e0\u05d0\u05d9 stands here in connection with \u05d0\u05e6\u05de\u05d9\u05ea\u05dd as a consec.: my haters, whom I destroyed. The other text is altogether more natural, better conceived, and more elegant in this instance.\nInstead of \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc we have \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc, a substitution which is just tolerable: they look forth for help, or even: they look up expectantly to their gods, Isa 17:8; Isa 31:1. The two figurative expressions in Sa2 22:43, however, appear here, in contrast with the other text, in a distorted form: And I pulverised them as the dust of the earth, as the mire of the street did I crush them, I trampled them down. The lively and expressive figure \u05db\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8 \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 is weakened into \u05db\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05be\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5. Instead of \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd, we have the overloaded glossarial \u05d0\u05d3\u05e7\u05bc\u05dd \u05d0\u05e8\u05e7\u05e2\u05dd. The former (root \u05d3\u05e7, \u05d3\u05da, to break in pieces) is a word that is interchanged with the \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd of the other text in the misapprehended sense of \u05d0\u05e8\u05e7\u05bc\u05dd. The latter (root \u05e8\u05e7, to stretch, to make broad, thin, and compact) looks like a gloss of this \u05d0\u05d3\u05e7\u05dd. Since one does not intentionally either crush or trample upon the dirt of the street nor tread it out thin or broad, we must in this instance take not merely \u05db\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05be\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 but also \u05db\u05d8\u05d9\u05d8\u05be\u05d7\u05d5\u05e6\u05d5\u05ea as expressing the issue or result.\nThe various reading \u05e8\u05d9\u05d1\u05d9 \u05e2\u05de\u05bc\u05d9 proceeds from the correct understanding, that \u05e8\u05d9\u05d1\u05d9 refers to David's contentions within his kingdom. The supposition that \u05e2\u05de\u05bc\u05d9 is a plur. apoc. and equivalent to \u05e2\u05de\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd, as it is to all appearance in Psa 144:2, and like \u05de\u05e0\u05bc\u05d9 = \u05de\u05e0\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd Psa 45:9, has no ground here. The reasonable variation \u05ea\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e8\u05e0\u05d9 harmonises with \u05e2\u05de\u05bc\u05d9: Thou hast kept me (preserved me) for a head of the nations, viz., by not allowing David to become deprived of the throne by civil foes. The two lines of Sa2 22:45 are reversed, and not without advantage. The Hithpa. \u05d9\u05ea\u05db\u05bc\u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc instead of the Piel \u05d9\u05db\u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc (cf. Psa 66:3; Psa 81:16) is the reflexive of the latter: they made themselves flatterers (cf. the Niph. Deu 33:29 : to show themselves flattering, like the \u05d9\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc which follows here, audientes se praestabant = obediebant). Instead of (\u05d0\u05d6\u05df) \u05dc\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e2 we have here, in a similar signification, but less elegant, (\u05d0\u05d6\u05df) \u05dc\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05e2 according to the hearing of the ear, i.e., hearsay. Instead of \u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05e8\u05d2\u05d5\u05bc we find \u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05d2\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc, which is either a transposition of the letters as a solecism (cf. \u05e4\u05bc\u05e8\u05e5 Sa2 13:27 for \u05e4\u05bc\u05e6\u05e8), or used in a peculiar signification. \"They gird (accincti prodeunt)\" does not give any suitable meaning to this picture of voluntary submission. But \u05d7\u05d2\u05e8 (whence Talmudic \u05d7\u05d2\u05bc\u05e8 lame) may have signified \"to limp\" in the dialect of the people, which may be understood of those who drag themselves along with difficulty and reluctance (Hitz.). \"Out of their closed placed (castles),\" here with the suff. \u0101m instead of \u00eah\u00e9m.\nThe \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 thrust into Sa2 22:47 is troublesome. \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05dd (without any necessity for correcting it to \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05dd) is optative, cf. Gen 27:31; Pro 9:4, Pro 9:16. Instead of \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05d3\u05d1\u05bc\u05e8 we have \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05d3 and who subdueth, which is less significant and so far as the syntax is concerned less elegant. Also here consequently \u05ea\u05bc\u05d7\u05ea\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9 for \u05ea\u05bc\u05d7\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9. Instead of \u05de\u05e4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d8\u05d9 we find \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9 and who bringeth me forth out of my enemies, who surround me - a peculiar form of expression and without support elsewhere (for it is different in Sa2 22:20). The poetical \u05d0\u05e3 is exchanged for the prose \u05d5\u05bc, \u05de\u05df\u05be\u05e7\u05de\u05d9 for \u05de\u05e7\u05bc\u05de\u05d9, and \u05d7\u05de\u05e1 (\u05d0\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1) for \u05d7\u05de\u05e1\u05d9\u05dd; the last being a plur. (Psa 140:2, Psa 140:5; Pro 4:17), which is foreign to the genuine Davidic Psalms.\nThe change of position of \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 in Sa2 22:50, as well as \u05d0\u05d6\u05de\u05bc\u05e8 for \u05d0\u05d6\u05de\u05bc\u05e8\u05d4, is against the rhythm; the latter, moreover, is contrary to custom, Psa 57:10; Psa 108:4. While \u05de\u05d3\u05d2\u05dc of the other text is not pointed \u05de\u05d2\u05d3\u05bc\u05dc, but \u05de\u05d2\u05d3\u05bc\u05dc, it is corrected in this text from \u05de\u05d2\u05d3\u05d9\u05dc into \u05de\u05d2\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05dc tower of salvation - a figure that recalls Psa 61:4, Pro 18:10, but is obscure and somewhat strange in this connection; moreover, migdol for migdal, a tower, only occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament as a proper name.\nIf we now take one more glance over the mutual relationship of the two texts, we cannot say that both texts equally partake of the original. With the exception of the correct omission of Sa2 22:14 and the readings \u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9, \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8\u05ea, and \u05d0\u05e4\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9 \u05d9\u05dd there is scarcely anything in the text of 2 Sam 22 that specially commends itself to us. That this text is a designed, and perhaps a Davidic, revision of the other text (Hengst.), is an assumption that is devoid of reason and appearance; for in 2 Sam 22 we have only a text that varies in some instances, but not a substantially new form of the text. The text in 2 Sam 22, as it has shown us, is founded upon careless written and oral transmission. The rather decided tendency towards a defective form of writing leads one to conjecture the greater antiquity of the copy from which it is taken. It is easy to understand how poetical passages inserted in historical works were less carefully dealt with. It is characteristic of the form of the text of the Psalm in 2 Sam 22, that in not a few instances the licences of popular expression have crept into it. There is some truth in what Bttcher says, when he calls the text in the Psalter the recension of the priests and that in the Second Book of Samuel the recension of the laity.\n(Heb.: 18:2-4) The poet opens with a number of endearing names for God, in which he gratefully comprehends the results of long and varied experience. So far as regards the parallelism of the members, a monostich forms the beginning of this Psalm, as in Psa 16:1-11; Psa 23:1-6; Ps 25 and many others. Nevertheless the matter assumes a somewhat different aspect, if Psa 18:3 is not, with Maurer, Hengstenberg and Hupfeld, taken as two predicate clauses (Jahve is..., my God is...), but as a simple vocative-a rendering which alone corresponds to the intensity with which this greatest of the Davidic hymns opens-God being invoked by \u05d4, \u05d4, \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9, and each of these names being followed by a predicative expansion of itself, which increases in fulness of tone and emphasis. The \u05d0\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05da (with \u0101, according to Ew. \u0597251, b), which carries the three series of the names of God, makes up in depth of meaning what is wanting in compass. Elsewhere we find only the Piel \u05e8\u05d7\u05dd of tender sympathising love, but here the Kal is used as an Aramaism. Hence the Jalkut on this passages explains it by \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05ea\u05da \"I love thee,\" or ardent, heartfelt love and attachment. The primary signification of softness (root \u05e8\u05d7, Arab. r\u1e25, rch, to be soft, lax, loose), whence \u05e8\u05d7\u05dd, uterus, is transferred in both cases to tenderness of feeling or sentiment. The most general predicate \u05d7\u05d6\u05e4\u05d9 (from \u05d7\u05d6\u05e7 according to a similar inflexion to \u05d0\u05de\u05e8, \u05d1\u05bc\u05e1\u05e8, \u05e2\u05de\u05e7, plur. \u05e2\u05de\u05e7\u05d9 Pro 9:18) is followed by those which describe Jahve as a protector and deliverer in persecution on the one hand, and on the other as a defender and the giver of victory in battle. They are all typical names symbolising what Jahve is in Himself; hence instead of \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05e4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d8\u05d9 it would perhaps have been more correct to point \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05e4\u05dc\u05d8\u05d9 (and my refuge). God had already called Himself a shield to Abram, Gen 15:1; and He is called \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 (cf. \u05d0\u05d1\u05df Gen 49:24) in the great Mosaic song, Deu 32:4, Deu 32:37 (the latter verse is distinctly echoed here).\n\u05e1\u05dc\u05e2 from \u05e1\u05dc\u05e2, Arab. sl\u201b, findere, means properly a cleft in a rock (Arabic \u05e1\u05dc\u05e2,\n(Note: Neshwn defines thus: Arab. 'l-sal\u201b is a cutting in a mountain after the manner of a gorge; and Jkt, who cites a number of places that are so called: a wide plain (Arab. f\u1e0d') enclosed by steep rocks, which is reached through a narrow pass (Arab. \u0161a\u201bb), but can only be descended on foot. Accordingly, in \u05e1\u05dc\u05e2\u05d9 the idea of a safe (and comfortable) hiding-place preponderates; in \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9 that of firm ground and inaccessibility. The one figure calls to mind the (well-watered) Edomitish \u05e1\u05dc\u05e2 surrounded with precipitous rocks, Isa 16:1; Isa 42:11, the \u03a0\u03ad\u03c4\u03c1\u03b1 described by Strabo, xvi. 4, 21; the other calls to mind the Phoenician rocky island \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8, \u1e62\u00fbr (Tyre), the refuge in the sea.))\nthen a cleft rock, and \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8, like the Arabic sachr, a great and hard mass of rock (Aramaic \u05d8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8, a mountain). The figures of the \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05d4 (\u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4, \u05de\u05e6\u05d3) and the \u05de\u05e9\u05c2\u05d2\u05bc\u05d1 are related; the former signifies properly specula, a watch-tower,\n(Note: In Arabic ma\u1e63\u00e2dun signifies (1) a high hill (a signification that is wanting in Freytag), (2) the summit of a mountain, and according to the original lexicons it belongs to the root Arab. ma\u1e63ada, which in outward appearance is supported by the synonymous forms Arab. ma\u1e63adun and ma\u1e63dun, as also by their plurals Arab. am\u1e63idatun and mu\u1e63d\u00e2nun, wince these can only be properly formed from those singulars on the assumption of the m being part of the root. Nevertheless, since the meanings of Arab. ma\u1e63ada all distinctly point to its being formed from the root Arab. m\u1e63 contained in the reduplicated stem Arab. ma\u1e63\u1e63a, to suck, but the meanings of Arab. ma\u1e63\u00e2dun, ma\u1e63sadun, and ma\u1e63dun do not admit of their being referred to it, and moreover there are instances in which original nn. loci from vv. med. Arab. w and y admit of the prefixed m being treated as the first radical through forgetfulness or disregard of their derivation, and with the retention of its from secondary roots (as Arab. makana, madana, ma\u1e63\u1e63ara), it is highly probable that in ma\u1e63\u00e2d, ma\u1e63ad and ma\u1e63d we have an original \u05de\u05e6\u05d3, \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4, \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05d4. These Hebrew words, however, are to be referred to a \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3 in the signification to look out, therefore properly specula. - Fleischer.)\nand the latter, a steep height. The horn, which is an ancient figure of victorious and defiant power in Deu 33:17; Sa1 2:1, is found here applied to Jahve Himself: \"horn of my salvation\" is that which interposes on the side of my feebleness, conquers, and saves me. All these epithets applied to God are the fruits of the affliction out of which David's song has sprung, viz., his persecution by Saul, when, in a country abounding in rugged rocks and deficient in forest, he betook himself to the rocks for safety, and the mountains served him as his fortresses. In the shelter which the mountains, by their natural conformations, afforded him at that time, and in the fortunate accidents, which sometimes brought him deliverance when in extreme peril, David recognises only marvellous phenomena of which Jahve Himself was to him the final cause. The confession of the God tried and known in many ways is continued in Psa 18:5 by a general expression of his experience. \u05de\u05d4\u05dc\u05bc\u05dc is a predicate accusative to \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4: As one praised (worthy to be praised) do I call upon Jahve, - a rendering that is better suited to the following clause, which expresses confidence in the answer coinciding with the invocation, which is to be thought of as a cry for help, than Olshausen's, \"Worthy of praise, do I cry, is Jahve,\" though this latter certainly is possible so far as the style is concerned (vid., on Isa 45:24, cf. also Gen 3:3; Mic 2:6). The proof of this fact, viz., that calling upon Him who is worthy to be praised, who, as the history of Israel shows, is able and willing to help, is immediately followed by actual help, as events that are coincident, forms the further matter of the Psalm.\n(Heb.: 18:5-7) In these verses David gathers into one collective figure all the fearful dangers to which he had been exposed during his persecution by Saul, together with the marvellous answers and deliverances he experienced, that which is unseen, which stands in the relation to that which is visible of cause and effect, rendering itself visible to him. David here appears as passive throughout; the hand from out of the clouds seizes him and draws him out of mighty waters: while in the second part of the Psalm, in fellowship with God and under His blessing, he comes forward as a free actor.\nThe description begins in Psa 18:5 with the danger and the cry for help which is not in vain. The verb \u05d0\u05e4\u05e3 according to a tradition not to be doubted (cf. \u05d0\u05d5\u05e4\u05df a wheel) signifies to go round, surround, as a poetical synonym of \u05e1\u05d1\u05d1, \u05d4\u05e7\u05bc\u05d9\u05e3, \u05db\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05e8, and not, as one might after the Arabic have thought: to drive, urge. Instead of \"the bands of death,\" the lxx (cf. Act 2:24) renders it \u1f60\u03b4\u1fd6\u03bd\u03b5\u03c2 (constrictive pains) \u03b8\u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03c4\u03bf\u03c5; but Psa 18:6 favours the meaning bands, cords, cf. Psa 119:61 (where it is likewise \u05d7\u05d1\u05dc\u05d9 instead of the \u05d4\u05d1\u05dc\u05d9, which one might have expected, Jos 17:5; Job 36:8), death is therefore represented as a hunter with a cord and net, Psa 91:3. \u05d1\u05dc\u05d9\u05bc\u05e2\u05dc, compounded of \u05d1\u05bc\u05dc\u05d9 and \u05d9\u05e2\u05dc (from \u05d9\u05e2\u05dc, \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc, root \u05e2\u05dc), signifies unprofitableness, worthlessness, and in fact both deep-rooted moral corruption and also abysmal destruction (cf. Co2 6:15, \u0392\u03b5\u03bb\u03af\u03b1\u03c1 = \u0392\u03b5\u03bb\u03af\u03b1\u03bb as a name of Satan and his kingdom). Rivers of destruction are those, whose engulfing floods lead down to the abyss of destruction (Jon 2:7). Death, Bel\u0131\u0302j\u00e1al, and She\u00f4l are the names of the weird powers, which make use of David's persecutors as their instruments. Futt. in the sense of imperfects alternate with praett. \u05d1\u05bc\u05e2\u05ea (= Arab. bgt) signifies to come suddenly upon any one (but compare also Arab. b\u201b\u1e6f, to startle, excitare, to alarm), and \u05e7\u05d3\u05bc\u05dd, to rush upon; the two words are distinguished from one another like berfallen and anfallen. The \u05d4\u05d9\u05db\u05dc out of which Jahve hears is His heavenly dwelling-place, which is both palace and temple, inasmuch as He sits enthroned there, being worshipped by blessed spirits. \u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5 belongs to \u05d5\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9: my cry which is poured forth before Him (as e.g., in Psa 102:1), for it is tautological if joined with \u05ea\u05bc\u05d1\u05d0 beside \u05d5\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9. Before Jahve's face he made supplication and his prayer urged its way into His ears.\n(Heb.: 18:8-10) As these verses go on to describe, the being heard became manifest in the form of deliverance. All nature stands to man in a sympathetic relationship, sharing his curse and blessing, his destruction and glory, and to God is a (so to speak) synergetic relationship, furnishing the harbingers and instruments of His mighty deeds. Accordingly in this instance Jahve's interposition on behalf of David is accompanied by terrible manifestations in nature. Like the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, Ps 68; Ps 77, and the giving of the Law on Sinai, Ex 19, and like the final appearing of Jahve and of Jesus Christ according to the words of prophet and apostle (Hab 3; Th2 1:7.), the appearing of Jahve for the help of David has also extraordinary natural phenomena in its train. It is true we find no express record of any incident in David's life of the kind recorded in Sa1 7:10, but it must be come real experience which David here idealises (i.e., seizes at its very roots, and generalises and works up into a grand majestic picture of his miraculous deliverance). Amidst earthquake, a black thunderstorm gathers, the charging of which is heralded by the lightning's flash, and its thick clouds descend nearer and nearer to the earth. The aorists in Psa 18:8 introduce the event, for the introduction of which, from Psa 18:4 onwards, the way has been prepared and towards which all is directed. The inward excitement of the Judge, who appears to His servant for his deliverance, sets the earth in violent oscillation. The foundations of the mountains (Isa 24:18) are that upon which they are supported beneath and within, as it were, the pillars which support the vast mass. \u05d2\u05e2\u05e9\u05c1 (rhyming with \u05e8\u05e2\u05e9\u05c1) is followed by the Hithpa. of the same verb: the first impulse having been given they, viz., the earth and the pillars of the mountains, continue to shake of themselves. These convulsions occur, because \"it is kindled with respect to God;\" it is unnecessary to supply \u05d0\u05e4\u05bc\u05d5, \u05d7\u05e8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5 is a synonym of \u05d7\u05dd \u05dc\u05d5. When God is wrath, according to Old Testament conception, the power of wrath which is present in Him is kindled and blazes up and breaks forth. The panting of rage may accordingly also be called the smoke of the fire of wrath (Psa 74:1; Psa 80:5). The smoking is as the breathing out of the fire, and the vehement hot breath which is inhaled and exhaled through the nose of one who is angry (cf. Job 41:12), is like smoke rising from the internal fire of anger. The fire of anger itself \"devours out of the mouth,\" i.e., flames forth out of the mouth, consuming whatever it lays hold of-in men in the form of angry words, with God in the fiery forces of nature, which are of a like kind with, and subservient to, His anger, and more especially in the lightning's flash. It is the lightning chiefly, that is compared here to the blazing up of burning coals. The power of wrath in God, becoming manifest in action, breaks forth into a glow, and before it entirely discharges its fire, it gives warning of action like the lightning's flash heralding the outburst of the storm. Thus enraged and breathing forth His wrath, Jahve bowed the heavens, i.e., caused them to bend towards the earth, and came down, and darkness of clouds (\u05e2\u05e8\u05e4\u05dc similar in meaning to \u1f44\u03c1\u03c6\u03bd\u03b7, cf. \u1f14\u03c1\u03b5\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2) was under His feet: black, low-hanging clouds announced the coming of Him who in His wrath was already on His way downwards towards the earth.\n(Heb.: 18:11-13) The storm, announcing the approaching outburst of the thunderstorm, was also the forerunner of the Avenger and Deliverer. If we compare Psa 18:11 with Psa 104:3, it is natural to regard \u05db\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 as a transposition of \u05e8\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 (a chariot, Ew. 153, a). But assuming a relationship between the biblical Cherub and (according to Ctesias) the Indo-Persian griffin, the word (from the Zend grab, garew, garefsh, to seize) signifies a creature seizing and holding irrecoverably fast whatever it seizes upon; perhaps in Semitic language the strong creature, from \u05db\u05bc\u05e8\u05d1 = Arab. krb, torquere, constringere, whence mukrab, tight, strong). It is a passive form like \u05d2\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc, \u05d9\u05e1\u05d3, \u05dc\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1. The cherubim are mentioned in Gen 3:24 as the guards of Paradise (this alone is enough to refute the interpretation recently revived in the Evang. Kirchen-Zeit., 1866, No. 46, that they are a symbol of the unity of the living One, \u05db\u05e8\u05d5\u05d1 = \u05db\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05d1 \"like a multitude!\"), and elsewhere, as it were, as the living mighty rampart and vehicle of the approach of the inaccessible majesty of God; and they are not merely in general the medium of God's personal presence in the world, but more especially of the present of God as turning the fiery side of His doxa towards the world. As in the Prometheus of Aeschylus, Oceanus comes flying \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03c0\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03c5\u03b3\u03c9\u03ba\u1fc6 \u03c4\u03cc\u03bd\u03b4 \u0313 \u03bf\u1f30\u03c9\u03bd\u03cc\u03bd \u03b3\u03bd\u03ce\u03bc\u1fc3 \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bc\u03af\u03c9\u03bd \u1f04\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1 \u03b5\u1f50\u03b8\u03cd\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd, so in the present passage Jahve rides upon the cherub, of which the heathenish griffin is a distortion; or, if by a comparison of passages like Psa 104:3; Isa 66:15, we understand David according to Ezekiel, He rides upon the cherub as upon His living throne-chariot (\u05de\u05e8\u05db\u05bc\u05d1\u05d4). The throne floats upon the cherubim, and this cherub-throne flies upon the wings of the wind; or, as we can also say: the cherub is the celestial spirit working in this vehicle formed of the spirit-like elements. The Manager of the chariot is Himself hidden behind the thick thunder-clouds. \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05ea is an aorist without the consecutive \u05d5 (cf. \u05d9\u05da Hos 6:1). \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05da is the accusative of the object to it; and the accusative of the predicate is doubled: His covering, His pavilion round about Him. In Job 36:29 also the thunder-clouds are called God's \u05e1\u05db\u05bc\u05d4, and also in Psa 97:2 they are \u05e1\u05d1\u05d9\u05d1\u05d9\u05d5, concealing Him on all sides and announcing only His presence when He is wroth. In Psa 18:12 the accusative of the object, \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05da, is expanded into \"darkness of waters,\" i.e., swelling with waters\n(Note: Rab Dimi, B. Taanth 10a, for the elucidation of the passage quotes a Palestine proverb: \u05e0\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05e0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d6\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05d5\u05d4\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05da \u05e2\u05e0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e1\u05d2\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05d5\u05d4\u05d9 i.e., if the clouds are transparent they will yield but little water, if they are dark they will yield a quantity.)\nand billows of thick vapour, thick, and therefore dark, masses (\u05e2\u05d1 in its primary meaning of denseness, or a thicket, Exo 19:9, cf. Jer 4:29) of \u05e9\u05c1\u05d7\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd, which is here a poetical name for fleecy clouds. The dispersion and discharge, according to Psa 18:13, proceeded from \u05e0\u05d2\u05d4\u05bc \u05d2\u05d2\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5. Such is the expression for the doxa of God as being a mirroring forth of His nature, as it were, over against Him, as being therefore His brightness, or the reflection of His glory. The doxa is fire and light. On this occasion the forces of wrath issue from it, and therefore it is the fiery forces: heavy and destructive hail (cf. Exo 9:23., Isa 30:30) and fiery glowing coals, i.e., flashing and kindling lightning. The object \u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05d5 stands first, because the idea of clouds, behind which, according to Psa 18:11, the doxa in concealed, is prominently connected with the doxa. It might be rendered: before His brightness His clouds turn into hail..., a rendering which would be more in accordance with the structure of the stichs, and is possible according to Ges. 138, rem. 2. Nevertheless, in connection with the combination of \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8 with clouds, the idea of breaking through (Lam 3:44) is very natural. If \u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05d5 is removed, then \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5 signifies \"thence came forth hail...\" But the mention of the clouds as the medium, is both natural and appropriate.\n(Heb.: 18:14-16) Amidst thunder, Jahve hurled lightnings as arrows upon David's enemies, and the breath of His anger laid bare the beds of the flood to the very centre of the earth, in order to rescue the sunken one. Thunder is the rumble of God, and as it were the hollow murmur of His mouth, Job 37:2. \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df, the Most High, is the name of God as the inapproachable Judge, who governs all things. The third line of Psa 18:14 is erroneously repeated from the preceding strophe. It cannot be supported on grammatical grounds by Exo 9:23, since \u05e7\u05d5\u05dc \u05e0\u05ea\u05df, edere vocem, has a different meaning from the \u05e0\u05ea\u05df \u05e7\u05dc\u05ea, dare tonitrua, of that passage. The symmetry of the strophe structure is also against it; and it is wanting both in 2 Sam. and in the lxx. \u05e8\u05d1, which, as the opposite of \u05de\u05e2\u05d8 Neh 2:12; Isa 10:7, means adverbially \"in abundance,\" is the parallel to \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05d7. It is generally taken, after the analogy of Gen 49:23, in the sense of \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05e7, Psa 144:6 : \u05e8\u05d1 in pause = \u05e8\u05d1 (the \u014d passing over into the broader like \u05e2\u05d6 instead of \u05e2\u05d6 in Gen 49:3) = \u05e8\u05d1\u05d1, cognate with \u05e8\u05d1\u05d4, \u05e8\u05de\u05d4; but the forms \u05e1\u05d1, \u05e1\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc, here, and in every other instance, have but a very questionable existence, as e.g., \u05e8\u05d1, Isa 54:13, is more probably an adjective than the third person praet. (cf. Bttcher, Neue Aehrenlese No. 635, 1066). The suffixes \u0113m do not refer to the arrows, i.e., lightnings, but to David's foes. \u05d4\u05de\u05dd means both to put in commotion and to destroy by confounding, Exo 14:24; Exo 23:27. In addition to the thunder, the voice of Jahve, comes the stormwind, which is the snorting of the breath of His nostrils. This makes the channels of the waters visible and lays bare the foundations of the earth. \u05d0\u05e4\u05d9\u05e7 (collateral form to \u05d0\u05e4\u05e7) is the bed of the river and then the river or brook itself, a continendo aquas (Ges.), and exactly like the Arabic mes\u0131\u0302k, mes\u00e2k, mesek (from Arab. msk, the VI form of which, tam\u00e2saka, corresponds to \u05d4\u05ea\u05d0\u05e4\u05bc\u05e7), means a place that does not admit of the water soaking in, but on account of the firmness of the soil preserves it standing or flowing. What are here meant are the water-courses or river beds that hold the water. It is only needful for Jahve to threaten (epitiman Mat 8:26) and the floods, in which he, whose rescue is undertaken here, is sunk, flee (Psa 104:7) and dry up (Psa 106:9, Nah 1:4). But he is already half engulfed in the abyss of Hades, hence not merely the bed of the flood is opened up, but the earth is rent to its very centre. From the language being here so thoroughly allegorical, it is clear that we were quite correct in interpreting the description as ideal. He, who is nearly overpowered by his foes, is represented as one engulfed in deep waters and almost drowning.\n(Heb.: 18:17-20) Then Jahve stretches out His hand from above into the deep chasm and draws up the sinking one. The verb \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05d7 occurs also in prose (Sa2 6:6) without \u05d9\u05d3 (Psa 57:4, cf. on the other hand the borrowed passage, Psa 144:7) in the signification to reach (after anything). The verb \u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05d4, however, is only found in one other instance, viz., Exo 2:10, as the root (transferred from the Egyptian into the Hebrew) of the name of Moses, and even Luther saw in it an historical allusion, \"He hath made a Moses of me,\" He hath drawn me out of great (many) waters, which had well nigh swallowed me up, as He did Moses out of the waters of the Nile, in which he would have perished. This figurative language is followed, in Psa 18:18, by its interpretation, just as in Psa 144:7 the \"great waters\" are explained by \u05de\u05d9\u05bc\u05d3 \u05d1\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e0\u05db\u05e8, which, however, is not suitable here, or at least is too limited.\nWith Psa 18:17 the hymn has reached the climax of epic description, from which it now descends in a tone that becomes more and more lyrical. In the combination \u05d0\u05d9\u05d1\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d6, \u05e2\u05d6 is not an adverbial accusative, but an adjective, like \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05da \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 Psa 143:10, and \u1f41 \u1f00\u03bd\u1f74\u03c1 \u1f00\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u03cc\u03c2 (Hebrerbrief S. 353). \u05db\u05bc\u05d9 introduces the reason for the interposition of the divine omnipotence, viz., the superior strength of the foe and the weakness of the oppressed one. On the day of his \u05d0\u05d9\u05d3, i.e., (vid., on Psa 31:12) his load or calamity, when he was altogether a homeless and almost defenceless fugitive, they came upon him (\u05e7\u05d3\u05bc\u05dd Psa 17:13), cutting off all possible means of delivering himself, but Jahve became the fugitive's staff (Psa 23:4) upon which he leaned and kept himself erect. By the hand of God, out of straits and difficulties he reached a broad place, out of the dungeon of oppression to freedom, for Jahve had delighted in him, he was His chosen and beloved one. \u05d7\u05e4\u05e5 has the accent on the penult here, and Metheg as a sign of the lengthening (\u05d4\u05e2\u05de\u05d3\u05d4) beside the \u0113, that it may not be read \u0115.\n(Note: In like manner Metheg is placed beside the ee of the final closed syllable that has lost the tone in \u05d7\u05e4\u05e5 Psa 22:9, \u05d5\u05ea\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05dc\u05dc Psa 90:2, vid., Isaiah S. 594 note.)\nThe following strophe tells the reason of his pleasing God and of His not allowing him to perish. This \u05db\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e4\u05e5 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d9 (for He delighted in me) now becomes the primary thought of the song.\n(Heb.: 18:21-24) On \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05dc (like \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05bc\u05dd with the accusative not merely of the thing, but also of the person, e.g., Sa1 24:18), \u03b5\u1f50 or \u03ba\u03b1\u03ba\u1ff6\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u03ac\u03c4\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u03ac, vid., on Psa 7:5. \u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e8, to observe = to keep, is used in the same way in Job 22:15. \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2 \u05de\u05df is a pregnant expression of the malitiosa desertio. \"From God's side,\" i.e., in His judgment, would be contrary to the general usage of the language (for the \u05de\u05df in Job 4:17 has a different meaning) and would be but a chilling addition. On the poetical form \u05de\u05e0\u05bc\u05d9, in pause \u05de\u05e0\u05bc\u05d9, vid., Ew. 263, b. The fut. in Psa 18:23, close after the substantival clause Psa 18:23, is not intended of the habit in the past, but at the present time: he has not wickedly forsaken God, but (\u05db\u05bc\u05d9 = imo, sed) always has God's commandments present before him as his rule of conduct, and has not put them far away out of his sight, in order to be able to sin with less compunction; and thus then (fut. consec.) in relation (\u05e2\u05dd, as in Deu 18:13, cf. Sa2 23:5) to God he was \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05dd, with his whole soul undividedly devoted to Him, and he guarded himself against his iniquity (\u05e2\u05d5\u05df, from \u05e2\u05d5\u05d4, Arab. 'w\u00e2, to twist, pervert, cf. Arab. gw\u00e2, of error, delusion, self-enlightenment), i.e., not: against acquiescence in his in-dwelling sin, but: against iniquity becoming in any way his own; \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9 equivalent to \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9 (Dan 9:5), cf. \u05de\u05d7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d9 = than that I should live, Jon 4:8. In this strophe, this Psalm strikes a cord that harmonises with Psa 17:1-15, after which it is therefore placed. We may compare David's own testimony concerning himself in Sa1 26:23., the testimony of God in Kg1 14:8, and the testimony of history in Kg1 15:5; Kg1 11:4.\n(Heb.: 18:25-28) What was said in Psa 18:21 is again expressed here as a result of the foregoing, and substantiated in Psa 18:26, Psa 18:27. \u05d7\u05e1\u05d9\u05d3 is a friend of God and man, just as pius is used of behaviour to men as well as towards God. \u05d2\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8 \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05dd the man (construct of \u05d2\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8) of moral and religious completeness (integri = integritatis, cf. Psa 15:2), i.e., of undivided devotion to God. \u05e0\u05d1\u05e8 (instead of which we find \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d1\u05d1 elsewhere, Psa 24:4; Psa 73:1) not one who is purified, but, in accordance with the reflexive primary meaning of Niph., one who is purifying himself, \u1f01\u03b3\u03bd\u03af\u03b6\u03c9\u03bd \u1f11\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd, Jo1 3:3. \u05e2\u05e7\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 (the opposite of \u05d9\u05e9\u05c2\u05e8) one who is morally distorted, perverse. Freely formed Hithpaels are used with these attributive words to give expression to the corresponding self-manifestation: \u05d4\u05ea\u05d7\u05e1\u05bc\u05d3, \u05d4\u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05bc\u05dd (Ges. 54, 2, b), \u05d4\u05ea\u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05e8, and \u05d4\u05ea\u05e4\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05dc (to show one's self \u05e0\u05e4\u05ea\u05bc\u05dc or \u05e4\u05bc\u05ea\u05dc\u05ea\u05bc\u05dc). The fervent love of the godly man God requites with confiding love, the entire submission of the upright with a full measure of grace, the endeavour after purity by an unbeclouded charity (cf. Psa 73:1), moral perverseness by paradoxical judgments, giving the perverse over to his perverseness (Rom 1:28) and leading him by strange ways to final condemnation (Isa 29:14, cf. Lev 26:23.). The truth, which is here enunciated, is not that the conception which man forms of God is the reflected image of his own mind and heart, but that God's conduct to man is the reflection of the relation in which man has placed himself to God; cf. Sa1 2:30; Sa1 15:23. This universal truth is illustrated and substantiated in Psa 18:28. The people who are bowed down by affliction experience God's condescension, to their salvation; and their haughty oppressors, god's exaltation, to their humiliation. Lofty, proud eyes are among the seven things that Jahve hateth, according to Pro 6:17. The judgment of God compels them to humble themselves with shame, Isa 2:11.\n(Heb.: 18:29-31) The confirmation of what has been asserted is continued by David's application of it to himself. Hitzig translates the futures in Psa 18:29. as imperfects; but the sequence of the tenses, which would bring this rendering with it, is in this instance interrupted, as it has been even in Psa 18:28, by \u05db\u05bc\u05d9. The lamp, \u05e0\u05e8 (contracted from nawer), is an image of life, which as it were burns on and on, including the idea of prosperity and high rank; in the form \u05e0\u05d9\u05e8 (from niwr, nijr) it is the usual figurative word for the continuance of the house of David, Kg1 11:36, and frequently. David's life and dominion, as the covenant king, is the lamp which God's favour has lighted for the well-being of Israel, and His power will not allow this lamp (Sa2 21:17) to be quenched. The darkness which breaks in upon David and his house is always lighted up again by Jahve. For His strength is mighty in the weak; in, with, and by Him he can do all things. The fut. \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 may be all the more surely derived from \u05e8\u05e6\u05e5 (= \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5), inasmuch as this verb has the changeable u in the future also in Isa 42:4; Ecc 12:6. The text of 2 Sam 22, however, certainly seems to put \"rushing upon\" in the stead of \"breaking down.\" With Psa 18:31 the first half of the hymn closes epiphonematically. \u05d4\u05d0\u05dc is a nom. absol., like hatsuwr, Deu 32:4. This old Mosaic utterance is re-echoed here, as in Sa2 7:22, in the mouth of David. The article of \u05d4\u05d0\u05dc points to God as being manifest in past history. His way is faultless and blameless. His word is \u05e6\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e4\u05d4, not slaggy ore, but purified solid gold, Psa 12:7. Whoever retreats into Him, the God of the promise, is shielded from every danger. Pro 30:5 is borrowed from this passage.\n(Heb.: 18:32-35) The grateful description of the tokens of favour he has experienced takes a new flight, and is continued in the second half of the Psalm in a more varied and less artificial mixture of the strophes. What is said in Psa 18:31 of the way and word of Jahve and of Jahve Himself, is confirmed in Psa 18:32 by the fact that He alone is \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05d4\u05bc, a divine being to be reverenced, and He alone is \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8, a rock, i.e., a ground of confidence that cannot be shaken. What is said in Psa 18:31 consequently can be said only of Him. \u05de\u05d1\u05bc\u05dc\u05e2\u05d3\u05d9 and \u05d6\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05ea\u05d9 alternate; the former (with a negative intensive \u05de\u05df) signifies \"without reference to\" and then absolutely \"without\" or besides, and the latter (with \u0131\u0302 as a connecting vowel, which elsewhere has also the function of a suffix), from \u05d6\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05ea (\u05d6\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d4), \"exception.\" The verses immediately following are attached descriptively to \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, our God (i.e., the God of Israel), the God, who girded me with strength; and accordingly (fut. consec.) made my way \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05dd, \"perfect,\" i.e., absolutely smooth, free from stumblings and errors, leading straight forward to a divine goal. The idea is no other than that in Psa 18:31, cf. Job 22:3, except that the freedom from error here is intended to be understood in accordance with its reference to the way of a man, of a king, and of a warrior; cf. moreover, the other text. The verb \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d4 signifies, like Arab. sww\u00e2, to make equal (aequare), to arrange, to set right; the dependent passage Hab 3:19 has, instead of this verb, the more uncoloured \u05e9\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd. The hind, \u05d0\u05d9\u05bc\u05dc\u05d4 or \u05d0\u05d9\u05bc\u05dc\u05ea, is the perfection of swiftness (cf. \u1f14\u03bb\u03b1\u03c6\u03bf\u03c2 and \u1f10\u03bb\u03b1\u03c6\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2) and also of gracefulness among animals. \"Like the hinds\" is equivalent to like hinds' feet; the Hebrew style leaves it to the reader to infer the appropriate point of comparison from the figure. It is not swiftness in flight (De Wette), but in attack and pursuit that is meant, - the latter being a prominent characteristic of warriors, according to Sa2 1:23; Sa2 2:18; Ch1 12:8. David does not call the high places of the enemy, which he has made his own by conquest \"my high places,\" but those heights of the Holy Land which belong to him as king of Israel: upon these Jahve preserves him a firm position, so that from them he may rule the land far and wide, and hold them victoriously (cf. passages like Deu 32:13; Isa 58:14). The verb \u05dc\u05de\u05bc\u05d3, which has a double accusative in other instances, is here combined with \u05dc of the subject taught, as the aim of the teaching. The verb \u05e0\u05d7\u05ea (to press down = to bend a bow) precedes the subject \"my arms\" in the singular; this inequality is admissible even when the subject stands first (e.g., Gen 49:22; Joe 1:20; Zac 6:14). \u05e7\u05e9\u05c1\u05ea \u05e0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d4 a bow of brazen = of brass, as in Job 20:24. It is also the manner of heroes in Homer and in the Ram-jana to press down and bend with their hand a brazen bow, one end of which rests on the ground.\n(Heb.: 18:36-37) Yet it is not the brazen bow in itself that makes him victorious, but the helpful strength of his God. \"Shield of Thy salvation\" is that consisting of Thy salvation. \u05de\u05d2\u05df has an unchangeable , as it has always. The salvation of Jahve covered him as a shield, from which every stroke of the foe rebounded; the right hand of Jahve supported him that his hands might not become feeble in the conflict. In its ultimate cause it is the divine \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d4, to which he must trace back his greatness, i.e., God's lowliness, by virtue of which His eyes look down upon that which is on the earth (Psa 113:6), and the poor and contrite ones are His favourite dwelling-place (Isa 57:15; Isa 66:1.); cf. B. Megilla 31a, \"wherever Scripture testifies of the \u05d2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 of the Holy One, blessed be He, it gives prominence also, in connection with it, to His condescension, \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5, as in Deu 10:17 and in connection with it Deu 10:18, Isa 57:15 and Isa 57:15, Psa 68:5 and Psa 68:6.\" The rendering of Luther, who follows the lxx and Vulgate, \"When Thou humblest me, Thou makest me great\" is opposed by the fact that \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d4 means the bending of one's self, and not of another. What is intended is, that condescension of God to mankind, and especially to the house of David, which was in operation, with an ultimate view to the incarnation, in the life of the son of Jesse from the time of his anointing to his death, viz., the divine \u03c7\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u03c4\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03b1\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03af\u03b1 (Tit 3:4), which elected the shepherd boy to be king, and did not cast him off even when he fell into sin and his infirmities became manifest. To enlarge his steps under any one is equivalent to securing him room for freedom of motion (cf. the opposite form of expression in Pro 4:12). Jahve removed the obstacles of his course out of the way, and steeled his ankles so that he stood firm in fight and endured till he came off victorious. The praet. \u05de\u05e2\u05d3\u05d5 substantiates what, without any other indication of it, is required by the consecutio temporum, viz., that everything here has a retrospective meaning.\n(Heb.: 18:38-41) Thus in God's strength, with the armour of God, and by God's assistance in fight, he smote, cast down, and utterly destroyed all his foes in foreign and in civil wars. According to the Hebrew syntax the whole of this passage is a retrospect. The imperfect signification of the futures in Psa 18:38, Psa 18:39 is made clear from the aorist which appears in Psa 18:40, and from the perfects and futures in what follows it. The strophe begins with an echo of Exo 15:9 (cf. supra Psa 7:6). The poet calls his opponents \u05e7\u05de\u05d9, as in Psa 18:49, Psa 44:6; Psa 74:23, cf. \u05e7\u05d9\u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc Job 22:20, inasmuch as \u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd by itself has the sense of rising up in hostility and consequently one can say \u05e7\u05de\u05d9 instead of \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9 \u05e7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd (\u05e7\u05d5\u05de\u05d9\u05dd Kg2 16:7).\n(Note: In the language of the Beduins k\u00f4m is war, feud, and k\u00f4m\u0101n\u0131\u0302 (denominative from k\u014dm) my enemy (hostis); k\u014dm also has the signification of a collective of k\u014dm\u0101n\u0131\u0302, and one can equally well say: entum waij\u00e2n\u00e2 k\u00f4m, you and we are enemies, and: b\u00ean\u00e2tn\u00e2 k\u00f4m, there is war between us.)\nThe frequent use of this phrase (e.g., Ps 36:13, Lam 1:14) shows that \u05e7\u05d5\u05dd in Psa 18:39 does not mean \"to stand (resist),\" but \"to rise (again).\" The phrase \u05e0\u05ea\u05df \u05e2\u05e8\u05e3, however, which in other passages has those fleeing as its subject (Ch2 29:6), is here differently applied: Thou gavest, or madest me mine enemies a back, i.e., those who turn back, as in Exo 23:27. From Psa 21:13 (\u05ea\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d9\u05ea\u05de\u05d5 \u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05dd, Symm. \u03c4\u03ac\u03be\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03cc\u03c6\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2) it becomes clear that \u05e2\u05e8\u05e3 is not an accusative of the member beside the accusative of the person (as e.g., in Deu 33:11), but an accusative of the factitive object according to Ges. 139, 2.\n(Heb.: 18:42-43) Their prayer to their gods, wrung from them by their distress, and even to Jahve, was in vain, because it was for their cause, and too late put up to Him. \u05e2\u05dc = \u05e2\u05dc; in Psa 42:2 the two prepositions are interchanged. Since we do not pulverize dust but to dust, \u05db\u05bc\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8 is to be taken as describing the result: so that they became as dust (cf. Job 38:30, \u05db\u05bc\u05d0\u05db\u05df, so that it is become like stone, and the extreme of such pregnant brevity of expression in Isa 41:2) before the wind (\u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05e4\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9 as in Ch2 3:17, before the front). The second figure is to be explained differently: I emptied them out (\u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd from \u05d4\u05e8\u05d9\u05e7) like the dirt of the streets, i.e., not merely: so that they became such, but as one empties it out, - thus contemptuously, ignominiously and completely (cf. Isa 10:6; Zac 10:5). The lxx renders it \u03bb\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u1ff6 from \u05d4\u05e8\u05e7 (root \u05e8\u05e7 to stretch, make thin, cf. tendo tenius, dehnen dnn); and the text of 2 Sam 22 present the same idea in \u05d0\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd.\n(Heb.: 18:44-46) Thus victorious in God, David became what he now is, viz., the ruler of a great kingdom firmly established both in home and foreign relations. With respect to the \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd and the verb \u05ea\u05bc\u05e4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d8\u05e0\u05d9 which follows, \u05e8\u05d9\u05d1\u05d9 \u05e2\u05dd can only be understood of the conflicts among his own people, in which David was involved by the persecution of Saul and the rebellions of Absolom and Sheba the son of Bichri; and from which Jahve delivered him, in order to preserve him for his calling of world-wide dominion in accordance with the promise. We therefore interpret the passage according to \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea \u05e2\u05dd in Isa 49:8, and \u05e7\u05e0\u05d0\u05ea\u05be\u05e2\u05dd in Isa 26:11; whereas the following \u05e2\u05dd comes to have a foreign application by reason of the attributive clause \u05dc\u05d0\u05be\u05d9\u05d3\u05e2\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9 (Ges. 123, 3). The Niph. \u05e0\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e2 in Psa 18:45 is the reflexive of \u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e2, to obey (e.g., Exo 24:7), and is therefore to be rendered: show themselves obedient (= Ithpa. in Dan 7:27). \u05dc\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e2 \u05d0\u05d6\u05df implies more than that they obeyed at the word; \u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e2 means information, rumour, and \u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e2 \u05d0\u05d6\u05df is the opposite of personal observation (Job 42:5), it is therefore to be rendered: they submitted even at the tidings of my victories; and Sa2 8:9. is an example of this. \u05db\u05bc\u05d7\u05e9\u05c1 to lie, disown, feign, and flatter, is sued here, as it is frequently, of the extorted humility which the vanquished show towards the conqueror. Psa 18:46 completes the picture of the reason of the sons of a foreign country \"putting a good face on a bad game.\" They faded away, i.e., they became weak and faint-hearted (Exo 18:18), incapable of holding out against or breaking through any siege by David, and trembled, surrendering at discretion, out of their close places, i.e., out of their strongholds behind which they had shut themselves in (cf. Ps 142:8). The signification of being alarmed, which in this instance, being found in combination with a local \u05de\u05df, is confined to the sense of terrified flight, is secured to the verb \u05d7\u05e8\u05d2 by the Arabic \u1e25arija (root \u1e25r, of audible pressure, crowding, and the like) to be pressed, crowded, tight, or narrow, to get in a strait, and the Targumic \u05d7\u05e8\u05e0\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d3\u05de\u05d5\u05ea\u05d0 = \u05d0\u05d9\u05de\u05ea\u05d0 \u05d3\u05de\u05d5\u05ea\u05d0 (vid., the Targums on Deu 32:25). Arab. \u1e25jl, to limp, halt, which is compared by Hitzig, is far removed as to the sound; and the most natural, but colourless Arab. chrj, to go out of (according to its radical meaning - cf. Arab. chrq, chr\u201b, etc. - : to break forth, erumpere), cannot be supported in Hebrew or Aramaic. The \u05d9\u05e8\u05d2\u05bc\u05d6\u05d5\u05bc found in the borrowed passage in Micah, Mic 7:17, favours our rendering.\n(Heb.: 18:47-49) The hymn now draws towards the end with praise and thanksgiving for the multitude of God's mighty deeds, which have just been displayed. Like the (\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9) \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da which is always doxological, \u05d7\u05d9 \u05d4 (vivus Jahve) is meant as a predicate clause, but is read with the accent of an exclamation just as in the formula of an oath, which is the same expression; and in the present instance it has a doxological meaning. Accordingly \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd also signifies \"exalted be,\" in which sense it is written \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05dd (\u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05dd = \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05dd) in the other text. There are three doxological utterances drawn from the events which have just been celebrated in song. That which follows, from \u05d4\u05d0\u05dc onwards, describes Jahve once more as the living, blessed (\u03b5\u1f50\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03b7\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd), and exalted One, which He has shown Himself to be. From \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05d3\u05d1\u05bc\u05e8 we see that \u05d4\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05ea\u05df is to be resolved as an imperfect. The proofs of vengeance, \u05e0\u05e7\u05de\u05d5\u05ea, are called God's gift, insofar as He has rendered it possible to him to punish the attacks upon his own dignity and the dignity of his people, or to witness the punishment of such insults (e.g., in the case of Nabal); for divine vengeance is a securing by punishment (vindicatio) of the inviolability of the right. It is questionable whether \u05d4\u05d3\u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 (synonym \u05e8\u05d3\u05d3, Psa 144:2) here and in Psa 47:4 means \"to bring to reason\" as an intensive of \u05d3\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8, to drive (Ges.); the more natural meaning is \"to turn the back\" according to the Arabic adbara (Hitzig), cf. dabar, dabre, flight, retreat; debira to be wounded behind; medb\u00fbr, wounded in the back. The idea from which \u05d4\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8 gains the meaning \"to subdue\" is that of flight, in which hostile nations, overtaken from behind, sank down under him (Psa 45:6); but the idea that is fully worked out in Psa 129:3, Isa 51:23, is by no means remote. With \u05de\u05e4\u05dc\u05d8\u05d9 the assertion takes the form of an address. \u05de\u05df \u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05dd does not differ from Psa 9:14 : Thou liftest me up away from mine enemies, so that I hover above them and triumph over them. The climactic \u05d0\u05e3, of which poetry is fond, here unites two thoughts of a like import to give intensity of expression to the one idea. The participle is followed by futures: his manifold experience is concentrated in one general ideal expression.\n(Heb.: 18:50-51) The praise of so blessed a God, who acts towards David as He has promised him, shall not be confined within the narrow limits of Israel. When God's anointed makes war with the sword upon the heathen, it is, in the end, the blessing of the knowledge of Jahve for which he opens up the way, and the salvation of Jahve, which he thus mediatorially helps on. Paul has a perfect right to quote Psa 18:50 of this Psalm (Rom 15:9), together with Deu 32:43 and Psa 117:1, as proof that salvation belongs to the Gentiles also, according to the divine purpose of mercy. What is said in Psa 18:50 as the reason and matter of the praise that shall go forth beyond Israel, is an echo of the Messianic promises in Sa2 7:12-16 which is perfectly reconcileable with the Davidic authorship of the Psalm, as Hitzig acknowledges. And Theodoret does not wrongly appeal to the closing words \u05e2\u05d3\u05be\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd against the Jews. In whom, but in Christ, the son of David, has the fallen throne of David any lasting continuance, and in whom, but in Christ, has all that has been promised to the seed of David eternal truth and reality? The praise of Jahve, the God of David, His anointed, is, according to its ultimate import, a praising of the Father of Jesus Christ.","title":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch: Psalms: Psalms Chapter 18","type":"page"}