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, my strength.

“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) The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

“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) I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies.

“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) The cords of death entangled me. The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. ⁵ The cords of the grave coiled around me. The snares of death confronted me.

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) In my distress I called to the LORD. I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice. My cry came before him, into his ears.

“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) The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook. They trembled because he was angry. ⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils. Consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. ⁹ He parted the heavens and came down. Dark clouds were under his feet. ¹⁰ He mounted the cherubim and flew. He soared on the wings of the wind. ¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—the dark rain clouds of the sky. ¹² Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning. ¹³ The LORD thundered from heaven. The voice of the Most High resounded. ¹⁴ He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them. ¹⁵ The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

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) He reached down from on high and took hold of me. He drew me out of deep waters.

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

(18:17) He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

“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) They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.

This would’ve been a disastrous day if David didn’t know God.

(18:19) He brought me out into a spacious place. He rescued me because he delighted in me.

“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) The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. ²¹ For I have kept the ways of the LORD. I am not guilty of turning from my God. ²² All his laws are before me. I have not turned away from his decrees. ²³ I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. ²⁴ The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

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) To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, ²⁶ to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. ²⁷ You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

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. My God turns my darkness into light. ²⁹ With your help I can advance against a troop. With my God I can scale a wall.

“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) As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless. He shields all who take refuge in him.

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) It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. ³³ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He causes me to stand on the heights.

“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) He trains my hands for battle. My arms can bend a bow of bronze.

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) You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me. Your help has made me great.

“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) You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way. ³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them. I did not turn back till they were destroyed. ³⁸ I crushed them so that they could not rise. They fell beneath my feet. ³⁹ You armed me with strength for battle. You humbled my adversaries before me. ⁴⁰ You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. ⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—to the LORD, but he did not answer. ⁴² I beat them as fine as windblown dust. I trampled them like mud in the streets.

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) You have delivered me from the attacks of the people. You have made me the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me, ⁴⁴ foreigners cower before me. As soon as they hear of me, they obey me. ⁴⁵ They all lose heart. They come trembling from their strongholds.

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! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! ⁴⁷ He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, ⁴⁸ who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes. From a violent man you rescued me. ⁴⁹ Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations. I will sing the praises of your name. ⁵⁰ He gives his king great victories. He shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever.

“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.