2Sa 20:17-22:17 | KD | STEP | Then a wise woman of the city desired to speak to Joab, and said (from the wall) to him ( ), “They were formerly accustomed to say, ask Abel; and so they brought (a thing) to pass.” These words show that Abel had formerly been celebrated for the wisdom of its inhabitants.

‏ 2 Samuel 20:17-26

Then a wise woman of the city desired to speak to Joab, and said (from the wall) to him (2Sa 20:18), “They were formerly accustomed to say, ask Abel; and so they brought (a thing) to pass.” These words show that Abel had formerly been celebrated for the wisdom of its inhabitants. 2Sa 20:19 “I am of the peaceable, faithful in Israel: thou seekest to slay a city and mother in Israel; wherefore wilt thou destroy the inheritance of Jehovah?” The construing of אנכי with a predicate in the plural may be explained on the simple ground that the woman spoke in the name of the city as well as in its favour, and therefore had the citizens in her mind at the time, as is very evident from the figurative expression אם (mother) for mother-city or capital. ^{▼▼The correctness of the text is not to be called in question, as Thenius and Böttcher suppose, for the simple reason that all the older translators have followed the Hebrew text, including even the lxx with their ἐγώ εἰμι εἰρηνικὰ τῶν στηριγμάτων ἐν Ἰσραήλ; whereas the words ἅ ἔθεντο οἱ πιστοὶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, which some of the MSS contain at the close of 2Sa 20:18 after ει ̓ ἐξέλιπον, and upon which Thenius and Böttcher have founded their conjectures, are evidently a gloss or paraphrase of התמּוּ וכן, and of so little value on critical grounds, that Tischendorf did not even think the reading worth mentioning in his edition of the Septuagint.}

The woman gave Joab to understand, in the first place, that he ought to have asked the inhabitants of Abela whether they intended to fight for Sheba before commencing the siege and destruction of the town, according to the law laid down in Deu 20:10. with reference to the siege of foreign towns; and secondly, that he ought to have taken into consideration the peaceableness and fidelity of the citizens of Abela, and not to destroy the peace-loving citizens and members of the nation of God. 2Sa 20:20

The woman’s words made an impression upon Joab. He felt the truthfulness of her reproaches, and replied, “Far be it, far be it from me, to swallow up or destroy.” אם, as in the case of oaths: “truly not.” 2Sa 20:21 “It is not so (sc., as thou sayest), but a man of the mountains of Ephraim (which extended into the tribe of Benjamin: see at 1Sa 1:1), Sheba the son of Bichri, hath lifted up his hand against the king David. Only give him up, and I will draw away from the city.” The woman promised him this: “Behold, his head shall be thrown out to thee over the wall.” 2Sa 20:22

She then came to all the people (i.e., the citizens of the town) “with her wisdom,” i.e., with the wise counsel which she had given to Joab, and which he had accepted; whereupon the citizens cut off Sheba’s head, and threw it out to Joab. Then Joab had a trumpet blown for a retreat, and the men disbanded, whilst he himself returned to Jerusalem to the king. 2Sa 20:23-26

David’s Ministers of State. - The second section of the history of David’s reign closes, like the first (2Sa 8:16.), with a list of the leading ministers of state. The author evidently found the two lists in his sources, and included them both in his work, for the simple reason that they belonged to different periods, as the difference in the names of some of the officers clearly shows, and that they supplemented on another. The list before us belongs to a later period of David’s reign than the one in 2Sa 8:16-18. In addition to the office-bearers mentioned in 2 Samuel 8, we find here Adoram over the tribute, and Ira the Kairite a confidential counsellor (cohen: see at 2Sa 8:18), in the place of the sons of David noticed in 2Sa 8:18. The others are the same in both lists. The Chethib הכרי is to be read הכּרי (cf. 2Ki 11:4, 2Ki 11:19), from כוּר, perfodit, and is synonymous with הכּרתי (see at 2Sa 8:18). Adoram is the same person as Adoniram, who is mentioned in 1Ki 4:6 and 1Ki 5:14 as overseer over the tributary service in the time of Solomon; as we may see from the fact, that the latter is also called Adoram in 1Ki 12:18, and Hadoram in 2Ch 10:18. Hadoram is apparently only a contracted form of the name, and not merely a copyist’s mistake for Adoniram. But when we find that, according to the passage cited, the same man filled this office under three kings, we must bear in mind that he did not enter upon it till the close of David’s reign, as he is not mentioned in 2Sa 8:16., and that his name only occurs in connection with Rehoboam’s ascent of the throne; so that there is no ground for assuming that he filled the office for any length of time under that monarch. המּס does not mean vectigal, i.e., tribute or tributary service, but tributary labourers. The derivation of the word is uncertain, and has been disputed. The appointment of a special prefect over the tributary labourers can hardly have taken place before the closing years of David’s reign, when the king organized the internal administration of the kingdom more firmly than before. On the tributary labourers, see at 1Ki 5:13. Ira the Jairite is never mentioned again. There is no ground for altering Jairi (the Jairite) into Jithri (the Jithrite), as Thenius proposes, since the rendering given in the Syriac (“from Jathir”) is merely an inference from 2Sa 23:38; and the assumption upon which this conclusion is founded, viz., that Ira, the hero mentioned in 2Sa 23:38, is the same person as Ira the royal cohen, is altogether unfounded.

‏ 2 Samuel 21

IV. Close of David’s Reign - 2 Samuel 21-24

After the suppression of the rebellion headed by Sheba, David spent the remaining years of his reign in establishing the kingdom upon a firmer basis, partly by organizing the army, the administration of justice, and the general government of the realm, and partly by making preparations for the erection of the temple, and enacting rules for the service of the Levites; that he might be able to hand over the government in a firm and satisfactory state to his youthful son Solomon, whom the Lord had appointed as his successor. The account of these regulations and enactments fills up the whole of the last section of the history of David’s reign in the first book of Chronicles. But in the book before us, several other things - (1) two divine punishments inflicted upon Israel, with the expiation of the sins that occasioned them (2Sa 21:1-14, and 2 Samuel 24); (2) David’s psalm of praise for deliverance out of the hand of all his enemies (2 Samuel 22), and his last prophetic words (2Sa 23:1-7); and (3) a few brief notices of victorious acts performed in the wars with the Philistines (2Sa 21:15-22), and a longer list of David’s heroes (2 Samuel 23:8-39) - form, as it were, a historical framework for these poetical and prophetic portions. Of the two divine visitations mentioned, the pestilence occasioned by the numbering of the people (2 Samuel 24) occurred undoubtedly in the closing years of David’s reign; whereas the famine, and the expiation connected with it (2Sa 21:1-14), happened most probably at an earlier period, and are merely introduced here because no fitting opportunity had presented itself before. The kernel and centre of this last section of the history of David is to be found unquestionably in the psalm of thanksgiving in 2 Samuel 22, and the prophetic announcement of an exalted and blessed king. In the psalm of thanksgiving David looks back at the close of his life upon all the mercy and faithfulness which he had experienced throughout his reign, and praises the Lord his God for the whole. In his “last words” he looks forward into the time to come, and on the strength of the promise which he has received, of the eternal duration of the dominion of his house, sees in spirit the just Ruler, who will one day arise from his seed, and take the throne of his kingdom for ever. These two lyrical and prophetic productions of David, the ripest spiritual fruit of his life, form a worthy conclusion to this reign. To this there is appended the list of his heroes, in the form of a supplement (2 Samuel 23:8-39); and finally in 2 Samuel 24 the account of the numbering of the people, and the pestilence which fell upon Israel, as a punishment for this fault on the part of David. This account is placed at the close of the books of Samuel, merely because the altar which was built to expiate the wrath of God, together with the sacrifices offered upon it, served to consecrate the site for the temple, which was to be erected after David’s death, in accordance with the divine promise (2Sa 7:13), by his son and successor Solomon.

Three Years’ Famine. - A three years’ famine in the land, the occasion of which, as Jehovah declared to the king, was Saul’s crime with regard to the Gibeonites, was expiated by David’s delivering up to the Gibeonites, at their own request, seven of Saul’s descendants, who were then hung by them upon a mountain before Jehovah. This occurrence certainly did not take place in the closing years of David’s reign; on the other hand, it is evident from the remark in 2Sa 21:7, to the effect that Mephibosheth was spared, that it happened after David had received tidings of Mephibosheth, and had taken him to his own table (2Sa 9:1-13). This is mentioned here as a practical illustration, on the one hand of the manner in which Jehovah visited upon the house of Saul, even after the death of Saul himself, a crime which had been committed by him; and, on the other hand, of the way in which, even in such a case as this, when David had been obliged to sacrifice the descendants of Saul to expiate the guilt of their father, he showed his tenderness towards him by the honourable burial of their bones.

2Sa 21:1-6

A famine, which lasted for three successive years, induced David to seek the face of Jehovah, i.e., to approach God in prayer and ask the cause of this judgment which had fallen upon the land. The Lord replied, “Because of Saul, and because of the house of blood-guiltiness, because he hath slain the Gibeonites.” The expression “because of the house of blood-guiltiness” is in apposition to “Saul,” and determines the meaning more precisely: “because of Saul, and indeed because of the blood-guiltiness which rests upon his house.” הדּמים בּית signifies the house upon which blood that had been shed still rested as guilt, like הדּמים עיר in Eze 22:2; Eze 24:6, Eze 24:9, and דּמים אישׁ in Psa 5:7; Psa 27:9, etc. Nothing further is known about the fact itself. It is simply evident from the words of the Gibeonites in 2Sa 21:5, that Saul, in his pretended zeal for the children of Israel, had smitten the Gibeonites, i.e., had put them to death. Probably some dissatisfaction with them had furnished Saul with a pretext for exterminating these Amoritish heathen from the midst of the people of God. 2Sa 21:11-14

When this touching care of Rizpah for the dead was told to David, he took care that the bones of the whole of the fallen royal house should be buried in the burial-place of Saul’s family. He therefore sent for the bones of Saul and Jonathan, which the men of Jabesh had taken away secretly from the wall of Beisan, where the Philistines had fastened the bodies, and which had been buried in Jabesh (1Sa 31:10.), and had the bones of the sons and grandsons of Saul who had been crucified at Gibeah collected together, and interred all these bones at Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the family grave of Kish the father of Saul. גּנּב, to take away secretly. בּית־שׁן מּרחב, from the market-place of Bethshan, does not present any contradiction to the statement in 1Sa 31:10, that the Philistines fastened the body to the wall of Bethshan, as the rechob or market-place in eastern towns is not in the middle of the town, but is an open place against or in front of the gate (cf. 2Ch 32:6; Neh 8:1, Neh 8:3,Neh 8:16). This place, as the common meeting-place of the citizens, was the most suitable spot that the Philistines could find for fastening the bodies to the wall. The Chethib תּלוּם is the true Hebrew form from תּלה, whereas the Keri תּלאוּם is a formation resembling the Aramaean (cf. Ewald, §252, a.). The Keri פלשׁתּים שׁמּה is correct, however, as פלשׁתּים, being a proper name, does not take any article. In הכּות בּיום the literal meaning of יום (day) must not be strictly pressed, but the expression is to be taken in the sense of “at the time of the smiting;” for the hanging up of the bodies did not take place till the day after the battle (1Sa 31:8.). - In 2Sa 21:14 the account is abridged, and the bones of the crucified persons are not mentioned again. The situation of Zela is unknown (see at Jos 18:28). After this had been carried out in accordance with the king’s command, God suffered himself to be entreated for the land, so that the famine ceased. 2Sa 21:15-22

Heroic Acts Performed in the Wars with the Philistines. - The brief accounts contained in these verses of different heroic feats were probably taken from a history of David’s wars drawn up in the form of chronicles, and are introduced here as practical proofs of the gracious deliverance of David out of the hand of all his foes, for which he praises the Lord his God in the psalm of thanksgiving which follows, so that the enumeration of these feats is to be regarded as supplying a historical basis for the psalm. 2Sa 21:15-16

The Philistines had war with Israel again. עוד (again) refers generally to earlier wars with the Philistines, and has probably been taken without alteration from the chronicles employed by our author, where the account which follows was attached to notices of other wars. This may be gathered from the books of the Chronicles, where three of the heroic feats mentioned here are attached to the general survey of David’s wars (vid., 1Ch 20:4). David was exhausted in this fight, and a Philistian giant thought to slay him; but Abishai came to his help and slew the giant. He was called Yishbo benob (Keri, Yishbi), i.e., not Yishbo at Nob, but Yishbobenob, a proper name, the meaning of which is probably “his dwelling is on the height,” and which may have been given to him because of his inaccessible castle. He was one of the descendants of Raphah, i.e., one of the gigantic race of Rephaim. Raphah was the tribe-father of the Rephaim, an ancient tribe of gigantic stature, of whom only a few families were left even in Moses’ time (vid., Deu 2:11; Deu 3:11, Deu 3:13, and the commentary on Gen 14:5). The weight of his lance, i.e., of the metal point to his lance, was three hundred shekels, or eight pounds, of brass, half as much as the spear of Goliath (1Sa 17:7); “and he was girded with new armour.” Böttcher has no doubt given the correct explanation of the word חדשׁה; he supposes the feminine to be used in a collective sense, so that the noun (“armour,” כּליו) could be dispensed with. (For parallels both to the words and facts, vid., Jdg 18:11 and Deu 1:41.) ויּאמר, he said (sc., to himself), i.e., he thought.

‏ 2 Samuel 22:1-17

2Sa 22:1

The heading is formed precisely according to the introductory formula of the song of Moses in Deu 31:30, and was no doubt taken from the larger historical work employed by the author of our books. It was probably also adopted from this into the canonical collection of the Psalter, and simply brought into conformity with the headings of the other psalms by the alteration of דּוד וידבּר (and David said) into דּבּר עשׁר לדוד יהוה לעבד (“Of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake:” Eng. ver.), and the insertion of למנצּח (“to the chief musician:” Eng. ver.) at the head (see Delitzsch on the Psalms). “In the day,” i.e., at the time, “when Jehovah had delivered him.” Deliverance “out of the hand of Saul” is specially mentioned, not because this was the last, but because it was the greatest and most glorious, - a deliverance out of the deepest misery into regal might and glory. The psalm is opened by ויּאמר in both texts. 2Sa 22:2-4 form the introduction. 2 Jehovah is my rock, my castle, and my deliverer to me; 3 My Rock-God, in whom I trust:

My shield and horn of my salvation, my fortress and my refuge,

My Saviour; from violence Thou redeemest me. 4 I call upon the praised one, Jehovah,

And I am saved from my enemies.

This introduction contains the sum and substance of the whole psalm, inasmuch as David groups the many experiences of divine deliverance in his agitated life into a long series of predicates, in all of which he extols God as his defence, refuge, and deliverer. The heaping up of these predicates is an expression both of liveliest gratitude, and also of hope for the future. The different predicates, however, are not to be taken as in apposition to Jehovah, or as vocatives, but are declarations concerning God, how He had proved himself faithful to the Psalmist in all the calamities of his life, and would assuredly do so still. David calls God וּמצרתי סלעי (my rock, and my castle) in Psa 31:4 as well (cf. Psa 71:4). The two epithets are borrowed from the natural character of Palestine, where steep and almost inaccessible rocks afford protection to the fugitive, as David had often found at the time when Saul was pursuing him (vid., 1Sa 24:22; 1Sa 22:5). But whilst David took refuge in rocks, he placed his hopes of safety not in their inaccessible character, but in God the Lord, the eternal spiritual rock, whom he could see in the earthly rock, so that he called Him his true castle. לי מפלטי (my deliverer to me) gives the real explanation of the foregoing figures. The לי (to me) is omitted in Psa 18:2, and only serves to strengthen the suffix, “my, yea my deliverer.' “My Rock-God,” equivalent to, God who is my Rock: this is formed after Deu 32:4, where Moses calls the Lord the Rock of Israel, because of His unchangeable faithfulness; for zur, a rock, is a figure used to represent immoveable firmness. In Psa 18:3 we find צוּרי אלי, “my God” (strong one), “my rock,” two synonyms which are joined together in our text, so as to form one single predicate of God, which is repeated in 2Sa 22:47. The predicates which follow, “my horn and my salvation-shield,” describe God as the mighty protector and defender of the righteous. A shield covers against hostile attacks. In this respect God was Abraham’s shield (Gen 15:1), and the helping shield of Israel (Deu 33:29; cf. Psa 3:4; Psa 59:12). He is the “horn of salvation,” according to Luther, because He overcomes enemies, and rescues from foes, and gives salvation. The figure is borrowed from animals, which have their strength and defensive weapons in their horns (see at 1Sa 2:1). “My fortress:” misgab is a high place, where a person is secure against hostile attacks (see at Psa 9:10). The predicates which follow, viz., my refuge, etc., are not given in Psa 18:3, and are probably only added as a rhythmical completion to the strophe, which was shortened by the omission of the introductory lines, “I love thee heartily, Jehovah” (Psa 18:1). The last clause, “My Saviour, who redeemest me from violence,” corresponds to אחסה־בּו in the first hemistich. In Psa 18:4, David sums up the contents of his psalm of thanksgiving in a general sentence of experience, which may be called the theme of the psalm, for it embraces “the result of the long life which lay behind him, so full of dangers and deliverances.” מהלּל, “the praised one,” an epithet applied to God, which occurs several times in the Psalms (Psa 48:2; Psa 96:4; Psa 113:3; Psa 145:3). It is in apposition to Jehovah, and is placed first for the sake of emphasis: “I invoke Jehovah as the praised one.” The imperfects אקרא and אוּשׁע are used to denote what continually happens. In 2Sa 22:5 we have the commencement of the account of the deliverances out of great tribulations, which David had experienced at the hand of God. 2Sa 22:5-7 5 For breakers of death had compassed me,

Streams of wickedness terrified me. 6 Cords of hell had girt me about,

Snares of death overtook me. 7 In my distress I called Jehovah,

And to my God I called;

And He heard my voice out of His temple,

And my crying came into His ears.

David had often been in danger of death, most frequently at the time when he was pursued by Saul, but also in Absalom’s conspiracy, and even in several wars (cf. 2Sa 21:16). All these dangers, out of which the Lord delivered him, and not merely those which originated with Saul, are included in 2Sa 22:5, 2Sa 22:6. The figure “breakers or waves of death” is analogous to that of the “streams of Belial.” His distress is represented in both of them under the image of violent floods of water. In the psalm we find מות חבלי, “snares of death,” as in Psa 116:3, death being regarded as a hunger with a net and snare (cf. Psa 91:3): this does not answer to well to the parallel נחלי, and therefore is not so good, since שׁאול חבלי follows immediately. בליּעל (Belial), uselessness in a moral sense, or worthlessness. The meaning “mischief,” or injury in a physical sense, which many expositors give to the word in this passage on account of the parallel “death,” cannot be grammatically sustained. Belial was afterwards adopted as a name for the devil (2Co 6:15). Streams of wickedness are calamities that proceed from wickedness, or originate with worthless men. קדּם, to come to meet with a hostile intention, i.e., to fall upon (vid., Job 30:27). היכל, the temple out of which Jehovah heard him, was the heavenly abode of God, as in Psa 11:4; for, according to 2Sa 22:8., God came down from heaven to help him. 2Sa 22:8-10 8 Then the earth swayed and trembled,

The foundations of the heavens shook

And swayed to and fro, because He was wroth. 9 Smoke ascended in His nose,

And fire out of His mouth devoured,

Red-hot coals burned out of Him. 10 And He bowed the heavens and came down,

And cloudy darkness under His feet.

Jehovah came down from heaven to save His servant, as He had formerly come down upon Sinai to conclude His covenant with Israel in the midst of terrible natural phenomena, which proclaimed the wrath of the Almighty. The theophany under which David depicts the deliverance he had experienced, had its type in the miraculous phenomenon which accompanied the descent of God upon Sinai, and which suggested, as in the song of Deborah (Jdg 5:4-5), the idea of a terrible storm. It is true that the deliverance of David was not actually attended by any such extraordinary natural phenomena; but the saving hand of God from heaven was so obviously manifested, that the deliverance experienced by him could be poetically described as a miraculous interposition on the part of God. When the Lord rises up from His heavenly temple to come down upon the earth to judgment, the whole world trembles at the fierceness of His wrath. Not only does the earth tremble, but the foundations of the heavens shake: the whole universe is moved. In the psalm we have “the foundations of the hills” instead of “the foundations of the heavens,” - a weaker expression, signifying the earth to its deepest foundations. The Hithpael יתגּעשׁ, lit., to sway itself, expresses the idea of continuous swaying to and fro. לו חרה כּי, “for it (sc., wrath) burned to him,” it flamed up like a fire; cf. Deu 32:22; Deu 29:19. “Smoke,” the forerunner of fire, “ascended in His nose.” The figurative idea is that of snorting or violent breathing, which indicates the rising of wrath. Smoke is followed by fire, which devours out of the mouth, i.e., bursts forth devouring or consuming all that opposes it. The expression is strengthened still further by the parallel: “red-hot coals come out of Him,” i.e., the flame of red-hot coals pours out of Him as out of a glowing furnace (cf. Gen 15:17). This description is based entirely upon Exo 19:18, where the Lord comes down upon Sinai in smoke and fire. We are not to picture to ourselves flashes of lightning; for all these phenomena are merely the forerunners of the appearance of God in the clouds, which is described in 2Sa 22:10, “He bowed the heavens” to come down. ערפל, which is frequently connected with ענן, signifies cloudy darkness, or dark clouds. The substratum of this description is the fact that in a severe storm the heavens seem to sink down upon the earth with their dark clouds. The Lord draws near riding upon black thunder-clouds, “that the wicked may not behold His serene countenance, but only the terrible signs of His fierce wrath and punishment” (J. H. Michaelis). 2Sa 22:11-12 11 He rode upon a cherub and flew hither,

And appeared upon the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness round about Him as pavilions,

Water-gathering, thick clouds. 13 Out of the splendour before Him

Burned red-hot coals of fire.

These three verses are a further expansion of 2Sa 22:19, and 2Sa 22:11 of 2Sa 22:10. The cherub is not a personified earthly creature, for cherubim are angels around the throne of God (see at Gen 3:22). The poetical figure “riding upon the cherub” is borrowed from the fact that God was enthroned between the two cherubim upon the lid of the ark of the covenant, and above their outspread wings (Exo 25:20-21). As the idea of His “dwelling between the cherubim” (2Sa 6:2; 1Sa 4:4; Psa 80:2) was founded upon this typical manifestation of the gracious presence of God in the Most Holy place, so here David depicts the descent of Jehovah from heaven as “riding upon a cherub,” picturing the cherub as a throne upon which God appears in the clouds of heaven, though without therefore imagining Him as riding upon a sphinx or driving in a chariot-throne. Such notions as these are precluded by the addition of the term ויּעף, “did fly.” The “flying” is also suggested by the wings of the cherubim. As the divine “shechinah” was enthroned above the ark of the covenant upon the wings of the cherubim, David in his poetical description represents the cherub and his wings as carrying the throne of God, to express the thought that Jehovah came down from heaven as the judge and saviour of His servants in the splendour of His divine glory, surrounded by cherubim who stand as His highest servants around His throne, just as Moses in his blessing (Deu 33:2) speaks of Jehovah as coming out of myriads of His holy angels. The elementary substratum of this was the wings of the wind, upon which He appeared. In the psalm we have ויּדא, from דּאה, to soar (Deu 28:39; Jer 48:40), which suggests the idea of flying better than ויּרא (He was seen), though the latter gives the real explanation. In 2Sa 22:12 and 2Sa 22:13, the “cloudy darkness under His feet” (2Sa 22:10) is still further expanded, so as to prepare the way for the description of thunder and lightning in 2Sa 22:14. God in His wrath withdraws His face from man. He envelopes himself in clouds. The darkness round about him is the black thunder-cloud which forms His hut or tent. The plural succoth is occasioned by the plural סביבתיו, “His surroundings:” it is used with indefinite generality, and is more probably the original term than סכּתו in the psalm. The “darkness” is still further explained in the second clause, מים חשׁרת, water-gatherings. חשׁרה (ἁπ. λεγ.) signifies, according to the Arabic, a gathering or collection. The expression used in the psalm is מים חשׁכת, water-darkness, which, if not less appropriate, is at any rate not the original term. שׁחקים עבי, clouds of clouds, i.e., the thickest clouds; a kind of superlative, in which a synonym is used instead of the same noun. 2Sa 22:13

The splendour of the divine nature enveloped in clouds breaks through the dark covering in burning coals of fire. The coals of fire which burst forth, i.e., which break out in flame from the dark clouds, are the lightning which shoots forth from the dark storm-clouds in streams of fire. 2 Sa22:14-16

14 Jehovah thundered from the heavens,
And the Most High gave His voice. 15 He sent arrows, and scattered them;
Lightning, and discomfited them. 16 Then the beds of the sea became visible;
The foundations of the world were uncovered,
Through the threatening of Jehovah,
By the snorting of the breath of His nostrils.

God sent lightning as arrows upon the enemies along with violent thunder, and threw them thereby into confusion. המם, to throw into confusion, and thereby to destroy, is the standing expression for the destruction of the foe accomplished by the miraculous interposition of God (vid., Exo 14:24; Exo 23:27; Jos 10:10; Jdg 4:15; 1Sa 7:10). To the thunder there were added stormy wind and earthquake, as an effect of the wrath of God, whereby the foundations of the sea and land were laid bare, i.e., whereby the depth of the abyss and of the hell in the interior of the earth, into which the person to be rescued had fallen, were disclosed. ^{▼▼In 2Sa 22:13-16 the text of the Psalms deviates greatly and in many instances from that before us. In v. 13 we find אשׁ וגחלי בּרד עברוּ עביו instead of אשׁ גּחלי בּערוּ; and after v. 14 אשׁ וגחלי בּרד is repeated in the psalm. In v. 15 we have רב וּברקים for בּרק, and in v. 16 מים אפיקי for ים אפיקי. The other deviations are inconsiderable. So far as the repetition of אשׁ וגחלי בּרד at the end of v. 14 is concerned, it is not only superfluous, but unsuitable, because the lightning following the thunder is described in v. 15, and the words repeated are probably nothing more than a gloss that has crept by an oversight into the text. The מים אפיקי in v. 16 is an obvious softening down of the ים אפיקי of the text before us. In the other deviations, however, the text of the Psalms is evidently the more original of the two; the abridgment of the second clause of v. 13 is evidently a simplification of the figurative description in the psalm, and רב בּרקים in the 15th verse of the psalm is more poetical and a stronger expression than the mere בּרק of our text.} 2Sa 22:17-20 17 He reached out of the height, He laid hold of me;

Drew me out of great waters: 18 Saved me from my enemy strong;

From my haters, because they were too strong for me. 19 They fell upon me in my day of calamity:

Then Jehovah became my stay, 20 And led me out into a broad place;

Delivered me, because He had pleasure in me.

The Lord stretched His hand from the height into the deep abysses, which had been uncovered through the threatening of the wrath of God, and drew out the sinking man. ישׁלח without יד is used to denote the stretching out of the hand, and in the sense of reaching out to a thing (as in 2Sa 6:6). רבּים מים (great waters) does not refer to the enemy, but to the calamities and dangers (waves of death and streams of Belial, 2Sa 22:5) into which the enemies of the Psalmist had plunged him. ימשׁני, from משׁה (Exo 2:10), from which the name of Moses was derived, to whom there is probably an allusion made. As Moses was taken out of the waters of the Nile, so David was taken out of great (many) waters. This deliverance is still further depicted in a more literal terms in 2Sa 22:18. עז איבי, my enemy strong, poetical for my strong enemy, does not refer to one single enemy, namely Saul; but, as the parallel “my haters” shows, is a poetical personification of all his enemies. They were stronger than David, therefore the Lord had to deliver him with an almighty hand. The “day of calamity” in which the enemy fell upon him (קדּם: see at 2Sa 22:6) was the time when David wandered about in the desert helpless and homeless, fleeing from the pursuit of Saul. The Lord was then his support, or a staff on which he could support himself (vid., Psa 23:4), and led him out of the strait into the broad, i.e., into a broad space where he could move freely, because God had pleasure in him, and had chosen him in His grace to be His servant. This reason for his deliverance is carried out still further in what follows.