Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 18:18

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 18:18. They prevented me in the day of my calamity — They took advantage of the time in which I was least able to make head against them, and their attack was sudden and powerful. I should have been overthrown, but the Lord was my stay. He had been nearly exhausted by the fatigue of the day, when the giant availed himself of this advantage.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 18:0 David’s song of victory

The outpouring of praise recorded in Psalms 18:0 is applicable to many of David’s experiences. It was probably put into its present form after David reached the height of his power as king. He had conquered all his enemies and now controlled all the country from Egypt to the Euphrates (2 Samuel 8:1-18). The psalm is also recorded in 2 Samuel 22:0.

David opens by declaring his love for God (1) and thanking God for hearing his prayers and saving him from death at the hands of his enemies (2-6). God revealed himself in dramatic exhibitions of his mighty power, using earthquakes and storms (7-9), wind and rain (10-11), lightning and thunder (12-15) to deliver his servant (16-19).
The reason God answered David’s prayers was that David walked in God’s ways and kept himself pure and humble (20-24). God’s attitude to people, whether he helped them or opposed them, depended on whether they were devoted to him or rebelled against him (25-27). That is why David was always confident of God’s help (28-30).
God had blessed David with good health, physical strength, natural ability, and the desire to train and practise till he was skilled in the abilities God had given him (31-34). Above all, God gave David his saving power (35-36). As a result David was able to go on to certain victory, conquering his foes (37-42), expanding his kingdom (43-45) and bringing glory to God (46-48). As he looks back on what God did for him in the past, he offers further praise for God’s unfailing kindness (49-50).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"They came upon me in the day of my calamity; But Jehovah was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because he delighted in me. Jehovah hath rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, And have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his ordinances were before me, And I put not away his statutes from me. I was also perfect with him, And kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore hath Jehovah recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight."

The explicit fact of God's delivering David from his enemies is stressed in these lines. We do not believe that David, in any sense whatever, was here claiming to be absolutely perfect and sinless in the sight of God, but that he had been forgiven of all sins he had committed and that, at the moment of his deliverance, he was "clean" in "God's eyesight" (Psalms 18:24). Of course, all forgiveness during the dispensation of the Mosaic Covenant was dependent, in the final analysis, upon the ultimate sacrifice of the Christ upon Calvary. However, in the practical sense, "God passed over the sins done aforetime" (Romans 3:25), and that was the practical equivalent of divine forgiveness.

The explanation we have offered here is the only way we are able to think of David as "clean," "perfect," "righteous," and the keeper of" all God's ordinances." Of course, if the words are understood as descriptive of the "Son of David," even the Christ, then there is no problem.

Addis, rejecting the Davidic authorship of this psalm, did so, partially, upon the grounds that David could not possibly have described himself as one "Who kept the ways of Jehovah,"W. E. Addis, op. cit., p. 367. However, we believe that Addis misunderstood what that verse really means. Rawlinson has the following very enlightening comment on that passage:

"I have kept the ways of the Lord." The parallel line here is, "And have not wickedly departed from my God." "Departed wickedly" implies willful and persistent wickedness, an entire alienation from God. Not even in the humblest of the penitential psalms, in which David bewails his offenses against God, does he use such terms as `departed wickedly' concerning himself.G. Rawlinson, op. cit., p. 117.

This means that in all the protestations of David here to the effect that he is clean in the sight of God, there is not a claim of never having done anything sinful, but a claim, which was true, that he had never "wickedly departed from his God," nor renounced his allegiance to the Lord. This is a very important distinction.

In the lives of two of Jesus' apostles, we find the distinction exemplified. (1) Judas "wickedly departed" from Christ, being terminally alienated from Him. (2) Peter, who shamefully and profanely denied the Lord, nevertheless, did not forsake Him, did not "wickedly depart" from Him; and, consequently was permitted to continue, after his repentance, as a faithful apostle.

The great consolation for Christians in these observations is that "Not even gross sins can prevent their ultimate and final salvation," provided only that they do not "wickedly depart" from the Lord, but repent of their lapses and forsake him not.

"I was also perfect with him" (Psalms 18:23). Leupold called attention to the fact that this should have been translated, "And so I was blameless (or perfect), etc."H. C. Leupold, op. cit., p. 175. Also, in the very next verse, the text should read, "And so the Lord requited me."Ibid. This has the effect of indicating that, therefore, David was blameless; therefore, the Lord recompensed him as perfectly clean and righteous. In other words, it was because David had never in any sense whatever "wickedly departed from God," but had clung to him even in the face of shameful sins and mistakes, God requited him on the basis of his fundamental love of God, and not upon the basis of human sins and mistakes of which he was most certainly guilty.

"I kept myself from mine iniquity." "It appears here that David had an inclination to some particular form of sin, against which he was continually on guard. We have no way of determining just what that sin was."G. Rawlinson, op. cit., p. 118.

A fact not often stressed is that any Christian still in fellowship with the Lord may say anything that the psalmist here has said of himself. How so? "That I may present every man PERFECT in Christ" (Colossians 1:28). How wonderful, how glorious, how absolutely precious above everything else is the privilege of being "perfect" in Christ Jesus, as David claimed in these passages! Perhaps we should be a little more eager in our stress of this magnificent truth. But, don't Christians make mistakes, and sin? Indeed yes; but, "If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light, then we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). The present participle "cleanseth" is an indication that the cleansing is constant, continual, and never-failing, thus keeping the child of God in a state of holy perfection.

The way in which all of this is deployed upon the sacred page is a providential arrangement designed to constitute also a prophetic indication of the absolute and genuine perfection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

They prevented me - They anticipated me, or went before me. See the note at Psalms 18:5. The idea here is that his enemies came before him, or intercepted his way. They were in his path, ready to destroy him.

In the day of my calamity - In the day to which I now look back as the time of my special trial.

But the Lord was my stay - My support, or prop. That is, the Lord upheld me, and kept me from falling.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

18.They had prevented me in the day of my calamity. ⁽⁴⁰⁹⁾ The Psalmist here confirms in different words the preceding sentence, namely, that he had been sustained by the aid of God, when there was no way of escaping by the power of man. He tells us how he had been besieged on all sides, and that not by an ordinary siege, inasmuch as his enemies, in persecuting him, always molested him most in the time of his calamity. From this circumstance it is the more evident that he had obtained enlargement by no other means than by the hand of God. Whence proceeded so sudden a restoration from death to life, but because God intended to show that he has in his hand, and under his absolute control, the issues of death? In short, the Psalmist ascribes his deliverance to no other cause than the mere good pleasure of God, that all the praise might redound to him alone: He delivered me, because he loved me, or had a good will to me. In mentioning the good pleasure of God, he has a special respect to his own calling to be king. The point on which he principally insisted is, that the assaults which were made upon him, and the conflicts which he had to sustain, were stirred up against him for no other reason but because he had obeyed the call of God, and followed with humble obedience the revelation of his oracle. Ambitious and turbulent men, who are carried headlong by their unruly lusts, inconsiderately to attempt any thing, and who, by their rashness, involve themselves in dangers, may often accomplish their undertakings by vigorous and resolute efforts, but at length a reverse takes place, and they are stopt short in their career of success, for they are unworthy of being sustained and prospered by God, since, without having any warrant or foundation for what they do in his call, they would raise their insane structures even to heaven, and disturb all around them. In short, David testifies, by this expression, that the assistance of God had never failed him, because he had not thrust himself into the office of king of his own accord, but that when he was contented with his humble condition, and would willingly have lived in obscurity, in the sheep-cotes, or in his father’s hut, he had been anointed by the hand of Samuel, which was the symbol of his free election by God to fill the throne.

(409) “They set their faces against me in the day of my calamity,” — Walford.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 18:1-50

The eighteenth psalm has a long title to it. It is to chief musician. It is a psalm of David, the servant of Jehovah, who spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all of his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said,

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength ( Psalms 18:1 ).

So that is all an introduction to the psalm, which is written in the Hebrew, just the introduction to the psalm. This evidently is the time when he was pursued and he escaped the hand of Saul and went down to Achish, because he speaks about dwelling, in the latter part, of dwelling among the heathen and all, and no doubt it was as he had fled from Saul to the Philistines so that Saul would not pursue him any more. And so now safe from the pursuit of Saul, having been delivered by the hand of God from Saul.

"I will love thee, O Lord my strength."

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress ( Psalms 18:2 ),

He had been actually been running in that rocky wilderness area around the Dead Sea, Engedi, and those rocky cliffs, hiding in those caves and using the rocks as a place of defense and as a fortress. "The Lord is my rock and my fortress,"

and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; he is my buckler, the horn of my salvation, and my high tower ( Psalms 18:2 ).

All of these are defensive weapons of war. God is all of it. He is my defender. He keeps me. He is my high tower. He is my buckler. He is my strength.

I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: and so shall I be saved from my enemies. For the sorrows of death encircled me, the floods of ungodly men ( Psalms 18:3-4 )

All of the troops of Saul, he came out with several thousand men pursuing David. And David looked over there and saw all these guys and he knew they were after my hide. And they had encircled David. He was trapped. "The sorrows of death encircled me."

The sorrows of hell encircled me about: the snares of death prevented to me. And in my distress I called upon the LORD, I cried unto my God: and he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even unto his ears ( Psalms 18:5-6 ).

Now, out of His temple. The temple was not yet built in Jerusalem, but he is talking about God's temple in heaven.

Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also the hills moved and were shaken, because of his anger. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: and coals were kindled by it. And he bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub [one of those angelic beings], and did fly: and he did fly upon the wings of the wind ( Psalms 18:7-10 ).

And all of this is very beautiful poetic and picturesque speech. Of course, this was a song written in Hebrew type of poetry. Very descriptive and very beautiful indeed.

In verse Psalms 18:16 he said,

He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has recompensed me ( Psalms 18:16-20 ).

Verse Psalms 18:25 ,

With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with the upright man, you will show yourself upright; with the pure you will show yourself pure; with the forward you will show yourself forward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but will bring down the high looks. For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all of those that trust in him. For who is God save Jehovah? And who is a rock save our God? It is God that girded me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. He teaches my hands to war, so that the bow of steel is broken by my arms. Thou hast also given me the shield of my salvation: and thy right hand hath held me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great ( Psalms 18:25-35 ).

Interesting phrase, "Thy gentleness hath made me great." And he goes on and tells how the Lord had subdued his enemies that were rising up against him. And then he, in verse Psalms 18:43 ,

Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; you have made me the head of the heathen ( Psalms 18:43 ):

He had actually gone been down in Ziklag, in the area of the Philistines, and he was the head of the city of Ziklag,

and of people whom I have not known shall serve me ( Psalms 18:43 ).

Now this, of course, David was speaking of himself, but it became prophetic of Jesus and the gospel going unto the Gentiles.

The LORD liveth; blessed be my Rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted ( Psalms 18:46 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 18

As the title indicates, David wrote this psalm after he had subdued his political enemies and had established the kingdom of Israel firmly under his control. In this poem, David expressed his delight in the Lord and thanked Him for giving him the victories he enjoyed. This royal thanksgiving psalm also appears in 2 Samuel 22. The slight variations may be due to changes that Israel’s leaders made, under divine inspiration, when they adapted this poem for use in Israel’s public worship. Other individual psalms of thanksgiving are 30-32, 40, 66, 92, 116, 118, and 120.

"The two components essential to the [individual thanksgiving] genre are: (1) the psalmist’s report about his crisis, and (2) the statement or declaration that the crisis has passed and his deliverance is an accomplished fact. The latter element is that which distinguishes these psalms from the lament." [Note: Bullock, p. 152.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. God’s deliverance 18:4-29

In this extended section, David reviewed how God had saved him in times of danger. In Psalms 18:4-19 he described God’s supernatural deliverance, and in Psalms 18:20-29 he explained it as he saw it through the lens of his faith in God.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

God delivered the writer as a lifeguard rescues a drowning man from the water that threatens to overwhelm him. David’s host of enemies almost swallowed him up, but God removed him from their clutches and brought him to a place of safety out of their reach.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

They prevented me in the day of my calamity,.... Referring to the times of his distress in the garden and upon the cross; the time of his sufferings and death, which was a dark and cloudy day, as the word x used suggests, both in a literal and in a spiritual sense; and when the day and hour was come, fixed and determined by the will of God, then his enemies, though not before, met him, laid hold on him, were too mighty for him, condemned, crucified, and insulted him;

but the Lord was my stay; or staff, on whom he leaned, relied, and depended, believing he would help him; and by whom he was supported and upheld, Isaiah 42:1. The Targum is,

"the Word of the Lord was my stay.''

x ביום אידי "in the day of my cloudy calamity", Ainsworth; "nomen" איד "proprie signifient vaporem vel nubem, ut Gen. vii. 6. hinc per metaphoram transfertur ad obscuras ac terrificas calamitatum nebulas, Prov. i. 26.", Gejerus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

To the chief musician, A psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD

the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies.

      1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.   2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.   3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.   4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.   5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.   6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.   7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.   8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.   9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.   10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.   11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.   12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.   13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.   14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.   15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.   16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.   17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.   18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.   19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

      The title gives us the occasion of penning this psalm; we had it before (2 Samuel 22:1), only here we are told that the psalm was delivered to the chief musician, or precentor, in the temple-songs. Note, The private compositions of good men, designed by them for their own use, may be serviceable to the public, that others may not only borrow light from their candle, but heat from their fire. Examples sometimes teach better than rules. And David is here called the servant of the Lord, as Moses was, not only as every good man is God's servant, but because, with his sceptre, with his sword, and with his pen, he greatly promoted the interests of God's kingdom in Israel. It was more his honour that he was a servant of the Lord than that he was king of a great kingdom; and so he himself accounted it (Psalms 116:16): O Lord! truly I am thy servant. In these verses,

      I. He triumphs in God and his relation to him. The first words of the psalm, I will love thee, O Lord! my strength, are here prefixed as the scope and contents of the whole. Love to God is the first and great commandment of the law, because it is the principle of all our acceptable praise and obedience; and this use we should make of all the mercies God bestows upon us, our hearts should thereby be enlarged in love to him. This he requires and will accept; and we are very ungrateful if we grudge him so poor a return. An interest in the person loved is the lover's delight; this string therefore he touches, and on this he harps with much pleasure (Psalms 18:2; Psalms 18:2): "The Lord Jehovah is my God; and then he is my rock, my fortress, all that I need and can desire in my present distress." For there is that in God which is suited to all the exigencies and occasions of his people that trust in him. "He is my rock, and strength, and fortress;" that is, 1. "I have found him so in the greatest dangers and difficulties." 2. "I have chosen him to be so, disclaiming all others, and depending upon him alone to protect me." Those that truly love God may thus triumph in him as theirs, and may with confidence call upon him, Psalms 18:3; Psalms 18:3. This further use we should make of our deliverances, we must not only love God the better, but love prayer the better--call upon him as long as we live, especially in time of trouble, with an assurance that so we shall be saved; for thus it is written, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,Acts 2:21.

      II. He sets himself to magnify the deliverances God had wrought for him, that he might be the more affected in his returns of praise. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy, which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it.

      1. The more imminent and threatening the danger was out of which we were delivered the greater is the mercy of the deliverance. David now remembered how the forces of his enemies poured in upon him, which he calls the floods of Belial, shoals of the children of Belial, likely to overpower him with numbers. They surrounded him, compassed him about; they surprised him, and by that means were very near seizing him; their snares prevented him, and, when without were fightings, within were fears and sorrows, Psalms 18:4; Psalms 18:5. His spirit was overwhelmed, and he looked upon himself as a lost man; see Psalms 116:3.

      2. The more earnest we have been with God for deliverance, and the more direct answer it is to our prayers, the more we are obliged to be thankful. David's deliverances were so, Psalms 18:6; Psalms 18:6. David was found a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. Though distress drive us to prayer, God will not therefore be deaf to us; nay, being a God of pity, he will be the more ready to succour us.

      3. The more wonderful God's appearances are in any deliverance the greater it is: such were the deliverances wrought for David, in which God's manifestation of his presence and glorious attributes is most magnificently described, Psalms 18:7-15; Psalms 18:7-15, c. Little appeared of man, but much of God, in these deliverances. (1.) He appeared a God of almighty power for he made the earth shake and tremble, and moved even the foundations of the hills (Psalms 18:7; Psalms 18:7), as of old at Mount Sinai. When the men of the earth were struck with fear, then the earth might be said to tremble; when the great men of the earth were put into confusion, then the hills moved. (2.) He showed his anger and displeasure against the enemies and persecutors of his people: He was wroth,Psalms 18:7; Psalms 18:7. His wrath smoked, it burned, it was fire, it was devouring fire (Psalms 18:8; Psalms 18:8), and coals were kindled by it. Those that by their own sins make themselves as coals (that is, fuel) to this fire will be consumed by it. He that ordains his arrows against the persecutors sends them forth when he pleases, and they are sure to hit the mark and do execution; for those arrows are lightnings, Psalms 18:14; Psalms 18:14. (3.) He showed his readiness to plead his people's cause and work deliverance for them; for he rode upon a cherub and did fly, for the maintaining of right and the relieving of his distressed servants, Psalms 18:10; Psalms 18:10. No opposition, no obstruction, can be given to him who rides upon the wings of the wind, who rides on the heavens, for the help of his people, and, in his excellency, on the skies. (4.) He showed his condescension, in taking cognizance of David's case: He bowed the heavens and came down (Psalms 18:9; Psalms 18:9), did not send an angel, but came himself, as one afflicted in the afflictions of his people. (5.) He wrapped himself in darkness, and yet commanded light to shine out of darkness for his people, Isaiah 45:15. He is a God that hideth himself; for he made darkness his pavilion,Psalms 18:11; Psalms 18:11. his glory is invisible, his counsels are unsearchable, and his proceedings unaccountable, and so, as to us, clouds and darkness are round about him; we know not the way that he takes, even when he is coming towards us in ways of mercy; but, when his designs are secret, they are kind; for, though he hide himself, he is the God of Israel, the Saviour. And, at his brightness, the thick clouds pass (Psalms 18:12; Psalms 18:12), comfort returns, the face of affairs is changed, and that which was gloomy and threatening becomes serene and pleasant.

      4. The greater the difficulties are that lie in the way of deliverance the more glorious the deliverance is. For the rescuing of David, the waters were to be divided till the very channels were seen; the earth was to be cloven till the very foundations of it were discovered, Psalms 18:15; Psalms 18:15. There were waters deep and many, waters out of which he was to be drawn (Psalms 18:16; Psalms 18:16), as Moses, who had his name from being drawn out of the water literally, as David was figuratively. His enemies were strong, and they hated him; had he been left to himself, they would have been too strong for him, Psalms 18:17; Psalms 18:17. And they were too quick for him; for they prevented him in the day of his calamity,Psalms 18:18; Psalms 18:18. But, in the midst of his troubles, the Lord was his stay, so that he did not sink. Note, God will not only deliver his people out of their troubles in due time, but he will sustain them and bear them up under their troubles in the mean time.

      5. That which especially magnified the deliverance was that his comfort was the fruit of it and God's favour was the root and fountain of it. (1.) It was an introduction to his preferment, Psalms 18:19; Psalms 18:19. "He brought me forth also out of my straits into a large place, where I had room, not only to turn, but to thrive in." (2.) It was a token of God's favour to him, and that made it doubly sweet: "He delivered me because he delighted in me, not for my merit, but for his own grace and good-will." Compare this with 2 Samuel 15:26, If he thus say, I have no delight in thee, here I am. We owe our salvation, that great deliverance, to the delight God had in the Son of David, in whom he has declared himself to be well pleased.

      In singing this we must triumph in God, and trust in him: and we may apply it to Christ the Son of David. The sorrows of death surrounded him; in his distress he prayed (Hebrews 5:7); God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, into a large place, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.