Chapter 18: God's Power over the Enemies

This psalm seems to fit into both the genres of lament and thanksgiving, though Wilson^[1] categorizes it as a royal psalm. It is a parallel psalm with 2 Samuel 22.

The superscription tells us that this occurred after God rescued him from the vicious and deadly King Saul. Pastor Joe Focht says, “David didn’t go to the movies to see action and adventure stories. He lived one!” Here we see God’s provision for David during his adventure of being persecution.

(18:1) “I love you, LORD.” The verb for “love” implies “the need of the one who receives the compassion and is associated with the mother’s care for her children.”^[2] Kidner writes, “This word for love is an uncommon one, impulsive and emotional. Found elsewhere only in its intensive forms, it usually expresses the compassionate love of the stronger for the weaker.”^[3] This choice of words focuses on David’s love being real, but subordinate to God’s love for him (1 Jn. 4:19).

“My strength.” David uses the word “my” nine times in this section. He learned so much about God during this period in his life. Even though he was suffering and lacking relationships, physical protection, and food, David was able to see that God replaced those things in his life.

(18:2) “My rock, my fortress.” In Israel, soldiers would barricade themselves in high clefts in the rocks, which gave them strategic advantages. David sees himself as being buried in God’s presence. Wilson writes, “God has become for the psalmist a place of security equal to one of these rugged, isolated, and inaccessible mountain fortresses. He can withdraw to God in the same way as those under attack can withdraw to their hidden caves to avoid discovery by their enemies.”^[4]

“My deliverer.” God rescued David repeatedly throughout his life.

“My shield.” God protected David throughout his life.

(18:3) “Worthy of praise.” God doesn’t become great when we call on him. He is great, and that’s why we should call on him.

(18:4-5) He pictures death and destruction like waves crashing down on him (cf. 2 Sam. 22:5) or like cords reaching up from the ground and pulling him down—like a trap set for an animal (“snare”).

(18:6) “I called… I cried… He heard.” David was in Sheol, but God could hear him from heaven (the Temple). VanGemeren writes, “The cry from the depths of Sheol (v. 5) was heard in the height of heaven.”^[5] There is no need for a mediator here: David’s prayer went directly to God’s “ears.”

“From his temple.” How can this psalm be written by David if the Temple wasn’t built until Solomon? One option is that this language was updated by a later scribe, and originally, it could have simply referred to God’s dwelling in the Tabernacle. Wilson^[6] argues that perhaps the Temple refers to God’s heavenly Temple, which is supported by the fact that God needs to descend through the clouds and heavens after he hears David’s prayer (v.9, 13).

(18:7-15) Imagine the portrait that David is painting with his words. In anthropomorphic language, he describes God as a divine warrior. The earth shakes, and the mountain quakes. God rides on top of the angels with smoke pouring out from his nostrils and fire from his mouth! Rain, lightning, thunder! Have you ever watched a thunderstorm and how powerful it is? (vv.14-15) David sees God as the King behind the thunderstorm, depicting God as terrifying as he comes to judge. Wilson comments, “The awesome power and majesty of the divine glory entering the human world is not business as usual. God’s holy otherness places sinful humanity under threat, and even the created order suffers by direct exposure to his presence. The created world cannot contain the creator, and its usual laws and order are stretched to the breaking point by this divine intrusion.”^[7]

Kidner^[8] holds that this is a poetic theophany that refers to God’s work in the Exodus—specifically at the Red Sea. The difficulty of this view is that the language doesn’t explicitly refer to this period of history, and it naturally flows into God saving David (vv.16ff). On the other hand, this view does have some plausibility. After all, such a dynamic theophany doesn’t fit anywhere in the life of David. Perhaps David is looking at God’s actions in the past to gain courage for the future.

(18:16) Instead of shaking to the core with fear, David views this as a comforting picture, because God is coming to rescue him.

(18:17) “Too strong for me.” David openly admits that he was too weak to fight these enemies. Before God, David poured out his fears so that he could be tough as nails before his enemies. David’s humility before God was his source of strength.

(18:18) This would’ve been a disastrous day if David didn’t know God.

(18:19) “He rescued me because he delighted in me.” God rescues David simply because he loves him. Throughout his life, David maintained an acute awareness of God’s love for him.

(18:20-24) This section captures David’s faithfulness to God. The next section captures God’s faithfulness to him.

(Ps. 18:22-24) How can David claim that he is “blameless”? In context, David is arguing for his relative righteousness compared to his enemies. In his Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis compares this to two little boys fighting over a pencil. When the teacher judges this situation, he doesn’t ask, “Which is the nicer little boy?” but rather, “Whose pencil is it?” Similarly, argues Lewis, these psalms of judgment are related to who is in the right, rather than who is completely righteous.

(18:25-27) David describes God as the perfect judge. He’s faithful to the faithful, but he judges the crooked.

(18:28-29) “You, LORD, keep my lamp burning.” Pastor Joe Focht comments, “When God lights your lamp, no one can blow it out.”

“My God turns my darkness into light.” David doesn’t believe he is morally perfect but trusts in the fact that God will be faithful to his steps of faith.

“Advance against a troop… scale a wall.” He trusts that God will make him into someone who can do incredible, supernatural things.

(18:30) The safest place to be is in God’s will and following his word.

(18:31) For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

David is not open to henotheism. Rather, he is asking this question rhetorically. VanGemeren writes, “This is more than a rhetorical question. It is a Hebraic form of asseveration, equivalent to ‘There is absolutely no god besides the Lord! There is no other Rock except our God!’”^[9]

(18:32-33) “Feet of a deer.” The deer’s agility “permits it to walk on narrow ledges in mountainous and rocky terrain.”^[10] David is able to balance himself with the grace of a deer—almost like a tightrope walker—because of God’s strength.

(18:34) A bow of bronze or “compound bow”^[11] would take enormous strength in order to bend to fire an arrow. However, because God has “trained” him, he has supernatural ability to fight.

(18:35) “Your gentleness makes me great” (NASB). This same God who is so terrifying, awesome, and powerful (vv.7-15) is also gentle. Of all his attributes, God’s “gentleness” is the one that makes us great. The incarnation is the ultimate fulfillment of this.

(18:36-42) It might strike us as cruel that David would speak about being invincible as he defeats his enemies in battle. However, earlier in the psalm, David had already explained that these enemies were evil, and God was using him as an instrument of justice. Therefore, when David speaks about succeeding in battle, this is similar to being glad that the FBI was successful in defeating a crime syndicate.

(18:43-45) God pictures David as a type of the Messiah, ruling the nations. The nations submit to him, because Israel is the “head” of the nations (Deut. 28:13). David is a type of Jesus Christ. In fact, Paul cites verse 49 as part of messianic prophecy (Rom. 15:9).

(18:46-50) “The LORD lives!” We need the living God—not a dead and lifeless God.

“Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!” Instead of boasting about his victory in battle, David chooses to praise God for rescuing him: “God saves me from my enemies.”

Devotional Prayer of Psalm 18

“Heavenly Father, even when I’m facing certain death, I can call out to you, and I know that you will hear me (vv.1-6). When you choose to defend me, it will be a sight to see (vv.7-15). You will be the one to protect me (vv.16-19), and you will judge fairly (vv.20-27). You will empower me to do supernatural things as I follow you (vv.28-36). You will give me victory over even the fiercest enemies (vv.37-42). In the end, you will take back the world through Jesus at the Second Coming (vv.43-50). I look forward to that day when even death will be destroyed.”

^[1] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 336.

^[2] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 168.

^[3] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 15, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 108.

^[4] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 338.

^[5] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 170.

^[6] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 340–341.

^[7] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 341.

^[8] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 15, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 109.

^[9] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 175.

^[10] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 176.

^[11] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 348.