Psalm 18

This psalm is one of the longer poems in the Book of Psalms . It is a monumental and impressive song. We find the same poem, word for word, recorded in II Samuel, immediately preceding David's last words.¹ We could draw the conclusion that David wrote the psalm at the end of his life. The words in the subscript "when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul," point to a later date in David's life when his kingdom was well established. Yet, the character of the psalm is not the words of an old man; it sparkles with vitality and energy.

In the list of "all his enemies," only Saul is mentioned by name. Saul had been, of course, David's most fearsome enemy because Saul was the king and David was a refugee. And, more than anyone else, Saul was out to kill David.

The psalm, therefore, is a hymn of praise to God for the salvation of David's life. One has to have had a close brush with death in order to appreciate life to the full. David had come to the point where he could say to his bosom friend Jonathan: "Yet as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death."² Little do men realize that there always is only one step between life and death! The person who thinks differently has put his head in the sand like an ostrich. If our safety is not in God and in our fellowship with Him, we are always vulnerable and our lives are in constant danger. David's life had always been in danger, whether Saul wanted to kill him or not, but the anointing oil Samuel had poured upon his head to indicate that God had set him apart to be a king had made him invincible. David only began to discern this when he passed through those dramatic events that marked his life. The psalm, therefore, is an expression of David's discovery of the truth the apostle Paul enunciated before the philosophers of Athens: "In him we live and move and have our being."³

We have to keep in mind that the real significance of this psalm far surpasses the events of David's life, however dramatic those events may have been. The message of the psalm is a prophecy about the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, which gives depth to David's experiences.

David says to YHWH: "I love you, O LORD, my strength." The appellation "my strength" could be interpreted as a name given to God, or it could be taken to mean "with all my strength." In the latter case, David would refer to the great commandment: "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."⁴ Most translation do not use the words "my strength" to indicate the intensity of David's love for God, but rather to make God the source of David's strength. TLB says: "Lord, how I love you!" and the Berkley Version translates the declaration: "Fervently do I love Thee."

In saying this, David obeys the great commandment on which all the Law and the Prophets hang. Among all the religions of the world, the love for God is a unique feature of Judeo-Christianity. George Knight in his Commentary on the Psalms tells the story of a Greek who, with his background of mythology and philosophy exclaimed, when hearing the words of the great commandment: "Imagine that someone could really love his God!" We have to tendency to look at other religions in the light of Christianity, and thus we lose sight of the uniqueness of our religion. No other religion in the world is based upon a relationship of love between God and man; all others are founded upon fear and are practiced to serve and pacify the deity.

David affirms that the security God provides for him in this world of uncertainty is based upon love. God protects David because He loves him. Our love of God is a response to His love for us.

David makes a chain of nine pearls with the names he gives to God in the opening verses of this psalm. He calls God: "my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my rock, my shield, horn of my salvation, my stronghold, my God."

First: "my strength." Jesus says: "Apart from me you can do nothing,"⁵ and the apostle Paul testifies: "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."⁶ The vital issue of David's testimony is that if anything of any lasting value is achieved in this world it is due to the strength that God provides.

David uses the word "my rock" twice. The first word in Hebrew is sela, which means a split rock, a place of shelter for men and animals. Adam Clarke's Commentary says: "The Lord is my rock. I stand on him as my foundation, and derive every good from him who is the source of good. The word celª`iy signifies those craggy precipices which afford shelter to men and wild animals where the bees often made their nests, and whence honey was collected in great abundance. 'He made him to suck honey out of the rock,' <Deut. 32:13>." The second word means a rock that serves as a foundation, a place upon which man can build. The cleft rock, which is a shelter and a source of drinking water, represents the beginning of our life in Christ. He is the "Rock of Ages cleft for me; let me hide myself in Thee." Jesus was the rock at Horeb, which Moses had to strike so water would come out and the people could drink.⁷ He also is the place where Moses was hiding when the glory of God passed by him,⁸ and He also was the rock to which Moses had to speak to produce water, but where he sinned against God by striking the rock instead.⁹

Our spiritual life begins when we take refuge in the cleft rock, and then that same rock becomes the foundation upon which our life is built.

The rock and the fortress are also a pair that belong together. Fortresses are often built upon protruding rocks. They are defense posts that guarantee the safety of the land. There is no reason that we would become the prey of satanic power or of sin, since God is our fortress. Rock, as the foundation of our lives, fortress, as the defense of our lives and deliverer, as the one who pulls us out of the power of the enemy, all are pearls of the same string. The Hebrew word which is translated with "my God" in vs. 2 is Eli, which means, according to The Adam Clarke's Commentary, "my strong God." The Hebrew word translated as "my rock" is tsuri in Hebrew. The KJV translates this with "my strength." It is unfortunate that these different shades of meaning are not coming through clearly in English. TLB achieves some better nuances with its paraphrase: "The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me. He is a rugged mountain where I hide; he is my Savior, a rock where none can reach me, and a tower of safety. He is my shield." The intent is that God is the source, not only of my existence, but of "every good and perfect gift."¹⁰ Every word used in these opening verses speaks of safety, security and protection. If we look at the broader pictures of these verses, and we see the words love, protection, safety, impregnability, security, etc., we see the image of a marriage in which the husband provides these things for his wife.

David uses the word "shield" several times in his psalms. Elsewhere he says: "But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head."¹¹ There, David sees God as the shield that covers him to seal his pardon. In this psalm, David sees how God, so to speak, protects him with His own body against a gang of murderous enemies. God does this for those He loves and who respond to His love. Everything in this world is uncertain. People try to compensate for this uncertainty in various ways, some by carrying a gun, others by beefing up a savings account. All security outside God, however, is uncertainty. The writer of the Hebrew epistle shows us where the real safety in life is to be found. He says: "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?' "¹²

The expression "the horn of my salvation" probably refers to the horns of the burnt offering altar, as is suggested by George Knight in his Commentary on the Psalms. Strangely enough, nowhere in the Pentateuch do we find any mention of the function of the horns of the altar in reference to the protection of a person accused of a crime. The first reported instance of someone grabbing the horns of the altar is Joab, who was condemned to death by king Solomon.¹³ We do not know whether the idea that one would be save by holding on to the horns of the altar was a matter of divine revelation or of superstition. This means that we cannot be sure that David had the horns of the altar in mind, when he called God "the horn of my salvation." All the names for God David uses in vs. 2 to indicate the safety of his position can be summarized in the New Testament expression "in Christ."

Verse 3 sounds like a spontaneous shout of victory: "I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies." The statement "the LORD, who is worthy of praise, [for] I am saved from my enemies" could have been written above this psalm as its title. This is an echo of the shout of victory we hear from the mouth of our risen Lord Jesus, when He said to John: "I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."¹⁴ This joy of our deliverance produces constant awe and reverence.

The words of vs. 5 and 6 reminds us of what David expresses in another psalm: "The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the LORD: 'O LORD, save me!' "¹⁵ Although Psalm 116 from which those words are quoted does not bear David's name, it is obvious that both psalms are from David's hand, or the author of that psalm quoted David. He realized that his life was in danger, and that death was about to catch up with him, and he was afraid. Any moment could be his last. The fear of death is a stronger cord than the feeling most people have at the actual moment of death would warrant. The devil manipulates this fear to the utmost. David uses words like "the cords of death," "the torrents of destruction," "the cords of the grave," and "the snares of death." The use of these words, especially "snares," prove that man was, originally, not created for death. Death is our enemy, because it is against our nature to die. In this context, David does not speak as a man who is terminally ill, but as one who is afraid to be killed by one of his fellowmen. This, too, makes David an image of our Lord Jesus Christ. We could see in these verses a prophecy of our Lord's agony in Gethsemane. Verse 6 fits into this picture; in Gethsemane Jesus called to the Lord God for help in his distress, and the Father heard His voice.

Verses 7-15 give an awesome description of the phenomena that accompany God's intervention in answer to David's prayer: there are "acts of God," or natural disasters that occur. George Knight, in his Commentary on the Psalms, believes that David quotes and adapts here an old Canaanite poem, which attributes mythological powers to a heavy thunderstorm. David's adaptation of the poem would then consist of his exchanging the name of local deities with YHWH and Elohim. Archeological finds have confirmed the existence of such poetry. It is, of course, quite possible that David borrowed from other poets, but the possibility also exists that the pagan version of the poem is derived from the "Christian" original.

The question is: What does David mean with these words? Did such natural disasters literally take place in answer to David's prayer, or did David give a description of God's awesome power in terms of physical phenomena? We read nowhere that a great natural catastrophe took place in David's days, such as the earthquake during the reign of King Uzziah,¹⁶ which was still remembered 200 years later in the prophecies of Zechariah.¹⁷ The absence of a record, however, proves very little. During the exodus of Israel from Egypt and the subsequent conquest of Canaan natural phenomena of tremendous proportions must have taken place that resulted in the drying up of the Red Sea, and the Jordan River, as well as the meteorite rain and the standing still of the sun. Veliskowski, in his book Worlds in Collision, has an interesting hypothesis which ascribes these happenings to the entrance of the planet Venus into our solar system. The fact that there is little or no documentation to support this thesis could mean that the facts were so well known in early history that no need was felt to write down the facts. If similar events took place during David's life, they would have occurred on a smaller scale.

There are two possible explanations for David's use of language: 1- David escaped death because of God's intervention in nature at the precise moment when he prayed. 2- David draws a parallel between his own redemption and the redemption of the people of Israel in the days of Moses and Joshua, by speaking about God in terms of natural catastrophes. The latter would be a poetical scheme that is quite plausible.

The latter would also be a tremendous experience, especially if the thunder storm burst loose immediately after David's prayer. David sensed that the wrath of God, as expressed in the earthquake of vs. 7, and the volcanic eruption in vs. 8, and the eclipse of the sun in vs. 9, the thunderstorm with severe lightning in vs. 13 and 14. The hurricane and flood in vs. 15 and 16, were not directed against him personally, but against his adversaries. Imagine the picture of someone who calls to God for help, and the whole of nature around him bursts loose, while he himself remains standing, "quietly among the raging waves."

In vs. 10 David describes God as mounted on the cherubim. In the midst of the awesome storm of all the elements of nature, David is aware of the presence of the Lord. In this he differs from Elijah, who did not recognize the presence of God in the earthquake and the fire. We read: "The LORD said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' "¹⁸ God, evidently does not reveal Himself in the same way to every one of His creatures. The character of His revelation may also depend upon the measure of our faith. Jesus speaks of faith that moves mountains. He says to His disciples: "You have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."¹⁹

God mounted on the cherubim is a representation of His revelation, as expressed in the cover of the ark. Initially, I think of spiritual mountains to be moved, like the one the prophet Zechariah addresses, the evil power that tries to obstruct the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. The Lord addresses Satan through him, saying: "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground."²⁰ But Jesus may have thought of God's intervention in nature, such as when the sun stood still at the prayer of Joshua.²¹ But where do we find people who have this kind of faith? Did David have this kind of faith? Even if we take the vs. 7-15 literally, which I am very much inclined to do, we still have to interpret the "deep water" in vs. 16 as a picture of a human enemy, or at least as a human who is used by Satan. David speaks of his "powerful enemy" in the singular, which can mean that he spoke of Saul, or of Satan. After all, Saul was demon possessed. The essence of David's words is that he faced enemies that were stronger than he was; they were superior in strength, but God kept and protected him against them in a supernatural way. This throws a new light on the opening verses of the psalm in which God is pictured as a hiding place, a stronghold, and a fortress. If we take the poetry of this psalm literally, we end up with the strange paradox that supernatural assistance came to David by natural means. Skeptics would call this a coincidence. But coincidences often make the greatest miracles!

Had David only looked at his circumstances, he would have been completely stunned and bewildered. People hated him and tried to cut off every human way of escape. There was no hope for David on the horizontal level. But God reached down from on high and saved him vertically. When David finds himself in a spacious place, he experiences salvation both horizontally and vertically. Space is three-dimensional. The depth dimension is not God's supernatural intervention, but His love for David. "He rescued me because he delighted in me." Yet, David's experience, with all its awesome manifestations of God's might, is nothing in comparison with our salvation. "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him."²² Christ's birth in Bethlehem was more earth shocking than all of the mighty phenomena of nature in this psalm.

The vs. 20-29 demand a New Testament interpretation. Superficially taken, it sounds as if David speaks about his own righteousness, and that he thinks he has a claim upon God's goodness on the basis of his own achievements. This would be in complete contrast, however, with the tone of amazement which sounds through the whole psalm. In the first place, we have to keep our eyes on to the fact that there is a strong prophetic vein that runs through the psalm. The subject is not, in the first place, David, but our Lord Jesus Christ. If David considers himself to be righteous and pure, it is because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is in him. Nobody can say of David that he was perfectly pure and beyond reproach. Even David himself admits this. If a man comes to the point that his heart does not condemn him, it is because God is greater than his heart.²³ The greater wonder is that God redeems us from ourselves, rather than that He saves us from our enemies. The poison within us is much more deadly than all the outward opposition combined. The fact that God justifies us is our greatest source of joy. It is also the basis of all other deliverances and victories. There is no victory over the powers of darkness and no answer to prayer if there is un-confessed sin in our heart.

The distinction we tend to make, between justification and the practice of holy living, is completely unknown in the Bible. David uses the terms righteousness and cleanness of hands as synonymous. We act what we are and we are what we act. The fact that God deals with us according to the righteousness and cleanness which He has bestowed upon us Himself is a miracle which we will, probably, never fully comprehend. It sounds so simple: "he has rewarded me," but if we pause and think about this, we come to the conclusion that what David says is an absolute impossibility, unless he speaks in terms of a punishment for certain sins committed. The opposite, however, is intended here. The fact that David repeats the phrase in vs. 24 suggests that he himself is amazed about this. God's righteousness is the basis; cleanness in David's life is the result; and the key to it all is obedience. This is brought out in the verses 21-23. Obedience to God's law, however, does not result in righteousness, as the Jews mistakenly thought; but the law leads us on the path of righteousness and keeps us from unrighteousness, once we possess the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Obedience is of the utmost importance in our fellowship with God. This is the more true since righteousness makes us partakers of the divine nature.²⁴ He who disobeys God goes against the expression of God's character in his own heart, and he consequently hurts himself. Disobedience is unnatural. The law of God is written in our hearts.

It is clear from vs. 24 that David is not speaking about a supposed righteousness, since he uses the phrase: "in his sight." Paul states: "for we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."²⁵ Something must have happened in us inwardly if this is true.

Vs. 25 and 26 are also open to a wrong interpretation. God does not turn His back to us when we turn ours to Him. He is always faithful and blameless. Our wrong attitude towards Him does not bring about any change in His attributes. But if a man tunes in to God's wave length, and begins demonstrating signs of faithfulness and blamelessness, he will start to recognize those characteristics in God. It is therefore necessary that we become pure in heart, so that we may see God, as Jesus says in Matthew's Gospel.²⁶ And the writer to the Hebrews admonishes us: "to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."²⁷ The opposite, therefore, as we learn from verse 26, is not that God becomes impure and unfaithful, but "shrewd." The Hebrew word used for "shrewd" is titpatata, derived from pathal, which Strong' Definitions renders as to twine, i.e. (literally) to struggle or (figuratively) be (morally) tortuous. The KJV uses the word "froward" which could be rendered as "defiant." The gist of the statement is, obviously, that crooked people will find God to be their opponent.

The suggestion of vs. 27 through 29 is not that David was originally pure, and that he possessed righteousness, but that he was miserable and lived in darkness. By the grace of God he was changed from an ordinary man into a conqueror. "With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall," are the words of a man who is "high" on God. Such reckless boldness is caused by the fullness of the Holy Spirit, which causes him to believe that, with God, nothing is impossible. There is no record in the Bible which shows that David performed such acts of super-heroism. His confrontation with Goliath may have come close. He writes these words at the end of his life, when his own physical condition would have made such efforts impossible. The intent is to say, what Jesus says to His disciples on the subject of faith: "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."²⁸

In vs. 28 David says: "You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning." The KJV uses the more intimate terminology: "For thou wilt light my candle." The Hebrew word niyr is derived from nîyr which simple means to shine. So the words candle, lamp, light are all appropriate translations, but the KJV evokes a more intimate and fragile atmosphere. Solomon uses the image of a golden bowl or a lamp, although the Hebrew word is different, describing the death of a man. "Remember him-- before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well."²⁹ When man fell into sin, he was hurled into spiritual darkness and his fellowship with God was broken. God lit the candle again, and the Holy Sprit enables us to see again. Being reestablished in fellowship with God, we receive insight that delivers us from darkness. We are being freed from the grip the devil had upon our thinking. It is interesting to see that David uses the names Yahweh and Elohim in this connection, and even Elohay, which means "my God." God is light. The fact that knowing he is connected to the eternal, almighty source of light, the one from which all light is derived, places him in an ocean of light. The best illustration of this phenomenon is, probably, the experience of the shepherds in Ephrathah. We read: "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified."³⁰ No wonder David feels, all of a sudden, that he could advance against a troop and scale a wall; he had seen the light of God's glory! How different is the biblical definition of "God's candle" from that of Rationalism, which uses the same expression to indicate human reason, but which rejects God's revelation in the Bible. This proves that the enlightenment of our lives has no value if we do not surrender our whole intellect and our whole heart to the love of God. This was the secret of David's burst of energy.

Verse 31 opens a new stanza in which we find a digest of the pattern of David's life. The conclusion is the personal testimony that God's way is perfect, and the word of the LORD is flawless. In Hebrew poetry the two clauses are arranged as a parallel, making the one a synonym of the other. We only find God's perfect way via God's flawless Word. The Word is our guide on the way. David let himself be guided in his life by God, and looking back over his life, he realizes that what God has done in his life is perfect. This does not mean that there were no missteps or sins in his life, but those are to be put on the account of David's disobedience, not on God's guidance.

The verse is not only David's testimony, it is also our challenge. It has a message for "all who take refuge in Him." To come under God's protection requires of us an act of personal surrender. In C. S. Lewis' book That Hideous Strength, there is a Scot, a certain McPherson, who, according the Fisher King, had never put himself under the protection of Elaldil.³¹ In contrast, we find that giving up our independence is not too high a price for the protection and safety God gives us. God's way, God's Word, and God's shield belong together like one trio in our lives. God's way brings us to our destination, God's Word shows us how to get there, and God's shield keeps the enemy out and keeps us in fellowship with the Lord. As in a marriage, there is not only protection against dangers from the outside, and God's shielding us from negative influences, but also we are sheltered in the intimacy of God's love.

In vs. 31 David asks the question whether there is an alternative to God. "Who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?" This reminds us of Peter's answer to Jesus. When Jesus asked the twelve disciples: "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."³² There is no alternative for those who have chosen. There is no Elohim besides YHWH! Elohim here is the name for the almighty Creator of heaven and earth, the source of all that lives and has existence. YHWH is the One who comes to man to seek him, to save him, and to bring him back to Himself. If we receive His revelation, we see the unity between the Creator and the Father. Again, David calls God the Rock. The Hebrew word for rock here is tsuwr, which is the place of refuge. David hides in the cleft of the rock which is also the foundation of his life. This rock is Christ, the Rock of Ages, cleft for us. The image suggests both reconciliation and rehabilitation. Remembering this, we have to ask the question anew: "Who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?" Is there another God who was beaten and crushed in order to atone for the sins of the ones He had created? Which God ever became man in order to save men? The foundation of our lives is the cross of Christ. It is wonderful to see that David says so much more than he himself understood.

In verses 32-36 David says in other words what he had said earlier. The images express what God had done for David as a result of his fellowship with Him. Each of the images is a worthy topic for study. We have to remark, first of all, that nobody is more amazed about what has happened than David himself. He never considers it to be a matter of course that he had come to such a high position in this world. He recognized always that the power that had brought him there was God's, not his. This is the secret of true humility. It seems that David had less trouble understanding this principle than did the apostle Paul, to whom God had to give a thorn in the flesh in order that he might learn God's lesson.³³

Vs. 32 reads: "It is God who arms me with strength." The KJV renders it, more correctly, with: "It is God that girdeth me with strength." The Hebrew word is 'azar, which means literally "to belt." The picture is of a soldier who straps his arms around him. Paul uses the image in his letter to the Ephesians, when he says: "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,"³⁴ and David speaks of the belt of the strength of God. Both pictures remind us of the fact that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."³⁵ This makes the miracle of our exaltation so much greater. A Christian does not only stand out above his fellowmen, but also above the spiritual forces that surround him.

When David says that God makes his way perfect, he does not mean that there are no bumps or hindrances. A perfect way is, not necessarily, a smooth way, but it is a way of life in which God gives the victory over the obstacles. During the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, after the Babylonian Captivity, Zechariah pictures the obstacles which the devil puts in the way to hinder completion of the project as a high mountain. He says: "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!' "³⁶ The Holy Spirit levels mountains that stand in the way to reach God's goal. The leveling of mountains is also a way of expressing the revelation of God's salvation and of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah speaks of "A voice of one calling: 'In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.' "³⁷ In the preaching of John the Baptist those words are used for repentance of men, and the renewal of their lives. We read: "He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: 'A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.' ' "³⁸

David sees himself, in the power of the Lord, as a deer that is sure-footed, agile, and able to go where there is no path and to reach heights that are out of reach. The Holy Spirit endows men with gifts which enable them to do things which are above their natural ability. There is an irreconcilable contrast between the perfect, level way of the previous verse and the high rugged mountain paths in this one. Yet both images are one; they are both expressions of the same victory. Not every mountain becomes a valley. We have to cast the mountains of the devil into the sea, but God's mountains are there to be climbed.

There is a paradox in the phrase: "He enables me to stand on the heights." The Hebrew says literally "upon my heights." This suggests that David scaled those heights himself, but, obviously, he would never have reached them without the help of God. The plural "heights" also indicates that David had this experience more than once. This means that, after reaching the top, David had to descend again; yet the stress is not upon the valleys, but upon the summits, upon the panorama, the thin mountain air, the blue sky, and the exhilaration of reaching the goal. David knew the heights of victory, as well as the battle in the low places. Years later the Arameans found out that the God of Israel is the Lord of the hills and the Lord of the plains. When King Ben-Hadad of Aram lost the battle against Israel, we read: "The officials of the king of Aram advised him, 'Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they were too strong for us. But if we fight them on the plains, surely we will be stronger than they." Then a prophet told the king of Israel: "This is what the LORD says: 'Because the Arameans think the LORD is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the LORD.' "³⁹

The "bronze bow" of vs. 34 is a hyperbole for an effort that requires enormous strength. Here too God gives strength, not only for the unusual experiences, but also for the routines of daily life. The bending of a bow is something to be learned by daily exercise. The power, here, is not a current of magical force, but the building up of muscle through regular use. Such is the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Supernatural strength and natural exercise are combined in the man who puts his faith in God.

Immediately following these demonstrations of power, David proceeds to confess his weakness. God's shield of victory, and His sustaining right hand speak of a fragile life that needs support. A human being, also a man of God, is a bundle of contradictions. God's victory is our shield. The fact that we are saved gives us the right to be protected from the Evil One.

When David says: "You stoop down to make me great," he utters more than he understands himself. The Hebrew reads w<sup>a`</sup>nwataka tarbeeniy. The word `anvah, from which w<sup>a`</sup>nwataka is formed, is derived from `anayv, which the KJV translates "humble, lowly, meek." So there is condescension, also in the rendering of the KJV, "thy gentleness hath made me great." The fact that David speaks about things that go beyond his own understanding is typical for words that are written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. David could not have known how deeply God would stoop down, not only to make him great, but also to rehabilitate every human being who confesses his sin before Him. David could not have had any inkling about the humiliation of our Lord Jesus Christ at the cross of Golgotha. From our side, we ought to get more insight in the results for our lives of Jesus' condescension, as expressed in His own words: "My Father will honor the one who serves me."⁴⁰ David realized that God had made him great, but he did not understand how; we, on the other hand, know how God did it, but we do not pause often enough to grasp the implications.

There is a difference between the broadening of the path in vs. 36 and the spacious place of vs. 19. In both cases a form of the Hebrew word rachab is used, meaning "an open space," or, figuratively, "liberty." In vs. 19 the context suggest a deliverance from defeat, and in vs. 36 it means victory. The roles have been reversed. From a man who was persecuted, David became one who chased his enemies.

If we interpret the verses 37-42 as a picture of the revenge one man takes upon another, the content becomes rather revolting to us. Christians often have problems when reading passages like these in the Book of Psalms . In reading through David's biography in the Bible, however, we come to the conclusion that there are no episodes to be found that fit this description. Even the people who sought to kill David, among whom Saul was the most important figure, did not come to an end by David's hand. To the contrary in both incidences in which it was in David's power to kill Saul, he saved his life!⁴¹ In this way David inflicted upon Saul a more crushing defeat than if he had killed him. Saying these things, we repeat the assumption that, in these verses also, David does not refer to enemies of flesh and blood, but to the evil powers that manipulate man. The fact that, at certain times, David himself was the victim of satanic manipulation, does in no way diminish the reality of the victories he speaks about here.

There is a beautiful illustration of the principle that is evinced in David's revenge upon Saul, in Tolkien's book Lord of the Rings. At the end of the story the evil Sariman is sent away with a letter of pardon. Sariman confesses that it was much harder for him to accept this pardon than if he had received a severe punishment. Hell will be the place where man cannot bring himself to forgive himself. David inflicted the most crushing defeat to his enemies by heaping burning coals on their heads.⁴²

The mention in vs. 41 that the Lord did not answer David's enemies when they called is probably a reference to the last days of Saul's life. At the last battle Saul fought, we read: "When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets."⁴³ If Saul, or anyone else of David's enemies, had called upon the Lord with a sincere heart, they would have received a pardon; this would have meant a victory for David also. David would have lost all his enemies by making them his friends! Receiving God's salvation is man's ultimate defeat. A man who refuses God's pardon destroys himself. In this victory David represents a clear image of his great Son: Jesus Christ.

The verses 43-45 describe another kind of victory: "the attacks of the people." The Hebrew word used is riyb, which Strong defines as "to toss, i.e. grapple; mostly figuratively, to wrangle." The KJV translates it "to strive." Brown-Driver-Briggs gives the definitions: "1) to strive a) physically b) with words; 2) to conduct a case or a legal suit, to sue; 3) to make complaint; 4) to quarrel." The Good News Bible translate the phrase with: "You saved me from a rebellious people." The idea of intrigue, or political manipulation cannot be excluded. David knew about court intrigue ever since the time he was king over Judah and Abner had made Ish-Boseth king over the other tribes of Israel. Even before that time, he himself had not been free from the tendency of manipulating people. Hoping this would sway people, David "sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, 'Here is a present for you from the plunder of the LORD's enemies.' "⁴⁴ But there came a point in his life where he rose above machinations. We conclude this from an incident that took place during his flight from his son, Absalom, when the priest Zadok came with the ark to accompany David on his flight. We read: "Then the king said to Zadok, 'Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD's eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, 'I am not pleased with you,' then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.' "⁴⁵ God gave David the right perspective in regard to his kingship, so that he did not have to try to cling to it.

This principle is valid, not only in cases where we try to hang on to power, but for the whole complex of inter-human relationships, in which we tend to place the honor men give us to place above the honor that comes from God. In a prophetic sense, David's word may be seen as pointing to Jesus' confession before Pilate, when He said: "My kingdom is not of this world…" By saying this, Jesus Himself was delivered from "the strivings of the people," and thus He became King of kings, and Lord of lords. In this deliverance, David recognized the secret of God's way to reach genuine power and authority. He saw the trap into which most people fall, unless God helps them to escape. Strangely enough, most people recognize intuitively the difference between real greatness, which is derived from God, and the surrogate that comes from political intrigue and manipulation.

In the heart of each person there is a deep hunger for the real thing. David is the most amazed of all people, realizing that "people I did not know are subject to me. As soon as they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me. They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds." Who said: "If you build the perfect mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door?" This was the secret of John the Baptist, who drew the masses to the desert. And Jesus Himself says about His death on the cross: "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."⁴⁶ Men do recognize true power when they see it; then men may be described: "they all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds." If we, like David, become what God wants us to be, then our lives will have a positive and healing effect upon people around us; and we will never know how far our influence reaches.

In vs. 46-50 the psalmist ends as he began, with praise. "The LORD lives!" is a unique exclamation in the Old Testament. The expression serves here, in the first place, to indicate the contrast between God and idols, as Isaiah does so magnificently when he hears God say: " 'To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' says the Holy One."⁴⁷ Jeremiah also says: "But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King."⁴⁸

David could not have known this, but the Holy Spirit probably used the exclamation "The LORD lives!" to point to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the source of all life, and it is highly ironic that the devil succeeded in adding a touch of deadness and dreariness to the concept of God which most people have. In comparison with God most people merely vegetate.

The words "The LORD lives!" also contain a thought of fellowship; He and we have this life in common.

Again, David praises God as his rock. This Hebrew word tsuwr is used several times in this psalm.⁴⁹ God is David's refuge, but also the foundation and the high point of his life. All three elements are present in this image; they form the thread that runs through this psalm.

How can such a God be exalted? What can man add to the Most High? Strictly speaking, this is impossible; yet exalting God is a real possibility. Since we have been created to the glory of God, it is not senseless to add our glory to His. Adoration contains a paradox which we will probably never be able to solve. The fact that we are able to exalt God adds a special meaning and beauty to our lives. We have to remember that sin did not leave God untouched. The fall of man did not diminish His glory, or stain His holiness, but it cost God everything to save man and creation by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Would our adoration, then, add nothing to God's glory and joy? David exalts God because He saved him and because God is David's salvation. The NIV says: "Exalted be God my Savior!" but other translations say: "Let the God of my salvation be exalted." The experience of salvation is the strongest stimulant to praise.

The word "avenge" opens up the text again to wrong interpretations. In the light of the preceding verses, we have to remind ourselves as to how David avenged himself upon Saul. The Old Testament, also, evinces the principle of heaping burning coals on an enemy's head. There is no difference between the New Testament principle of revenge and the one in the Old Testament. When the apostle Paul writes to the Romans: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,"⁵⁰ he quotes from the book of Proverbs. There we read: "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you."⁵¹ Both quotes affirm the fact that only God can wreak revenge. When David says in vs. 47: "He is the God who avenges me," he says the same as the writer to the Hebrews: "We know him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge his people.' "⁵² David's way of vengeance is best illustrated by his words to Abishai, when both where standing next to Saul who was asleep in the army camp: "Who can lay a hand on the LORD's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the LORD lives, … the LORD himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD's anointed."⁵³

Jesus took revenge upon His enemies by praying for them: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."⁵⁴ We hear in David's words a note of abhorrence of violence. God did not save David from violent men to make him violent himself. His dislike for this kind of person is apparent in the psalm he wrote about Doeg, the Edomite, who massacred the priests of Nob.⁵⁵ He wrote: "Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God? Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor, you who practice deceit. You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth. Selah."⁵⁶ The salvation, revenge, and vindication he received did not come about because he met strong weapons with stronger weapons; actually, the opposite was true. He triumphed over Goliath with the most primitive weapon that could be found: a slingshot. Here the word could be applied that was given to the small group of Jews who saw themselves facing the overwhelming power of the Persian empire: " 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."⁵⁷

The fact that David testifies here to the power of the Holy Spirit does not mean that he never used human force. There is, however, a difference between the use of force and reliance upon force alone. It is the same difference as using money and putting one's trust in money. It is a strange paradox that David's reign was drenched in blood, but this does not diminish the fact that David himself was a man of peace.

Here also, the subject is not David in the first place, but David's son: Jesus Christ. Jesus' attitude towards violence is clear in His words to Peter in the garden of Gethsemane: "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"⁵⁸ The Scriptures were fulfilled in the way Jesus accepted His suffering, the way He died and rose from the dead; it is the way these verses of Scripture from the hand of David were fulfilled also. Of course, David did not know this, but in the last two verses of this psalm he celebrates the resurrection from the dead. That which he experienced in his own life, which was an image of the reality, aroused in him the same joy that we sense through the resurrection of Christ. The essence of all praise is expressed in the hymn: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"⁵⁹ God's glory reveals itself in the Lamb, that is in the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is what David experienced by proxy in all the adventures and occurrences to which he testifies in this psalm. The subject is not only David's personal experiences, but it is the Gospel which he preaches to all nations. What else can we read in vs. 49 than a prophecy regarding the evangelization of the whole world? "Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name." The goal of the preaching of the Gospel can be defined as: "Praise God among the nations." The main purpose of evangelizing is not the salvation of souls, but the glory of God. Salvation of human souls is, in a sense, a by-product. That is why we ought to put the full stress in our preaching upon singing praises to the Name of God. This is what Paul meant when he wrote to the Romans: "For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: 'Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.' Again, it says, 'Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.' And again, 'Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.' "⁶⁰

The life of David and his experience with God can be summed up in the statement: "He gives his king great victories." This is his personal testimony. Personal testimonies, however, have only meaning in as much as they reflect the facts of salvation as they are demonstrated in the life of Jesus Christ. "His king," "his anointed," and "David" are all names given to our Lord Jesus Christ, and we are "his descendants." David was aware of the fact that he was not the actual king of Israel, but that he reigned by the grace of God. In another psalm he states clearly that the Messiah would be the actual king. "The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.' "⁶¹

More than the fact that God had saved him personally from all dangers, the realization that he had played a role in the great events of his life, the meaning of which far surpassed the boundaries of his own existence and circumstances, must have been a source of great joy and satisfaction for him. The real meaning of our lives also lies in the fact that what we are and do is related to the person of God. We sing: "Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me." In David's case this reality was so true, that centuries later, the prophet Ezekiel could say: "I [God] will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd."⁶²

² I Sam. 20:3

³ Acts 17:28

⁴ Deut. 6:5

⁵ John 15:5

⁶ Phil. 4:13

⁷ Ex. 17:6

⁸ Ex. 33:21,22

⁹ Num. 20:7-11

¹⁰ James 1:17

¹¹ Ps. 3:3

¹² Heb. 13:5,6

¹³ I Kings 2:28-31

¹⁴ Rev. 1:18

¹⁵ Ps. 116:3,4

¹⁶ Amos 1:1

¹⁷ See Zech. 14:5

¹⁸ I King 19:11-13

¹⁹ Matt. 17:20

²⁰ Zech. 4:7

²¹ See Josh. 10:12-14

²² I John 4:9

²³ I John 3:19-22

²⁴ See II Peter 1:4

²⁵ II Cor. 2:15

²⁶ Matt. 5:8

²⁷ Heb. 12:14

²⁸ Matt. 17:20

²⁹ Eccl. 12:6

³⁰ Luke 2:9

³¹ The Name Lewis uses for God.

³² John 6:67,68

³³ II Cor. 12:7-9

³⁴ Eph. 6:14

³⁵ See Eph. 6:12

³⁶ Zech. 4:7

³⁷ Isa. 40:3-5

³⁸ Luke 3:3-6

³⁹ I Kings 20:23,28

⁴⁰ John 12:26

⁴¹ See I Sam. 24:2-21; 26:1-25.

⁴² See Prov. 25:21,22; Rom. 12:20

⁴³ I Sam. 28:5,6

⁴⁴ I Sam. 30:26

⁴⁵ II Sam. 15:25,26

⁴⁶ John 12:32

⁴⁷ Isa 40:12-31

⁴⁸ See Jer. 10:1-16

⁴⁹ See vs. 2, 31 and 46

⁵⁰ Rom. 12:20,21

⁵¹ Prov. 25:21,22

⁵² Heb. 10:30

⁵³ I Sam. 26:9-1^a

⁵⁴ Luke 23:34

⁵⁵ See I Sam. 22:18

⁵⁶ Ps. 52:1-3

⁵⁷ Zech. 4:6

⁵⁸ Matt. 26:52-54

⁵⁹ Rev. 5:13

⁶⁰ Rom. 15:8-11

⁶¹ Ps. 110:1

⁶² Ezek. 34:23

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