Psa 18:5-17 | KD | STEP | (Hebrew_Bible_18:5-7) In these verses David gathers into one collective figure all the fearful dangers to which he had been exposed during his persecution by Saul, together with the marvellous answers and deliverances he experienced, that which is unseen, which stands in the relation to that which is visible of cause and effect, rendering itself visible to him. David here appears as passive throughout; the hand from out of the clouds seizes him and draws him out of mighty waters: while in the second part of the Psalm, in fellowship with God and under His blessing, he comes forward as a free actor. The description begins in with the danger and the cry for help which is not in vain. The verb אפף according to a tradition not to be doubted (cf. אופן a wheel) signifies to go round, surround, as a poetical synonym of סבב, הקּיף, כּתּר, and not, as one might after the Arabic have thought: to drive, urge. Instead of “the bands of death,” the lxx (cf. ) renders it ὠδῖνες (constrictive pains) θανάτου; but favours the meaning bands, cords, cf. (where it is likewise חבלי instead of the הבלי, which one might have expected, ; ), death is therefore represented as a hunter with a cord and net, Psa 91:3. בליּעל, compounded of בּלי and יעל (from יעל, ועל, root על), signifies unprofitableness, worthlessness, and in fact both deep-rooted moral corruption and also abysmal destruction (cf. , Βελίαρ = Βελίαλ as a name of Satan and his kingdom). Rivers of destruction are those, whose engulfing floods lead down to the abyss of destruction ( ). Death, Belı̂jáal , and Sheôl are the names of the weird powers, which make use of David’s persecutors as their instruments. Futt . in the sense of imperfects alternate with praett . בּעת (= Arab. bgt ) signifies to come suddenly upon any one (but compare also Arab. b‛ṯ , to startle, excitare , to alarm), and קדּם, to rush upon; the two words are distinguished from one another like überfallen and anfallen . The היכל out of which Jahve hears is His heavenly dwelling-place, which is both palace and temple, inasmuch as He sits enthroned there, being worshipped by blessed spirits. לפניו belongs to ושׁועתי: my cry which is poured forth before Him (as e.g., in ), for it is tautological if joined with תּבא beside ושׁועתי. Before Jahve’s face he made supplication and his prayer urged its way into His ears.

‏ Psalms 18:5-17

Psa 18:4-6 (Hebrew_Bible_18:5-7) In these verses David gathers into one collective figure all the fearful dangers to which he had been exposed during his persecution by Saul, together with the marvellous answers and deliverances he experienced, that which is unseen, which stands in the relation to that which is visible of cause and effect, rendering itself visible to him. David here appears as passive throughout; the hand from out of the clouds seizes him and draws him out of mighty waters: while in the second part of the Psalm, in fellowship with God and under His blessing, he comes forward as a free actor.

The description begins in Psa 18:5 with the danger and the cry for help which is not in vain. The verb אפף according to a tradition not to be doubted (cf. אופן a wheel) signifies to go round, surround, as a poetical synonym of סבב, הקּיף, כּתּר, and not, as one might after the Arabic have thought: to drive, urge. Instead of “the bands of death,” the lxx (cf. Act 2:24) renders it ὠδῖνες (constrictive pains) θανάτου; but Psa 18:6 favours the meaning bands, cords, cf. Psa 119:61 (where it is likewise חבלי instead of the הבלי, which one might have expected, Jos 17:5; Job 36:8), death is therefore represented as a hunter with a cord and net, Psa 91:3. בליּעל, compounded of בּלי and יעל (from יעל, ועל, root על), signifies unprofitableness, worthlessness, and in fact both deep-rooted moral corruption and also abysmal destruction (cf. 2Co 6:15, Βελίαρ = Βελίαλ as a name of Satan and his kingdom). Rivers of destruction are those, whose engulfing floods lead down to the abyss of destruction (Jon 2:7). Death, Belı̂jáal, and Sheôl are the names of the weird powers, which make use of David’s persecutors as their instruments. Futt. in the sense of imperfects alternate with praett. בּעת (= Arab. bgt) signifies to come suddenly upon any one (but compare also Arab. b‛ṯ, to startle, excitare, to alarm), and קדּם, to rush upon; the two words are distinguished from one another like überfallen and anfallen. The היכל out of which Jahve hears is His heavenly dwelling-place, which is both palace and temple, inasmuch as He sits enthroned there, being worshipped by blessed spirits. לפניו belongs to ושׁועתי: my cry which is poured forth before Him (as e.g., in Psa 102:1), for it is tautological if joined with תּבא beside ושׁועתי. Before Jahve’s face he made supplication and his prayer urged its way into His ears. Psa 18:7-9 (Hebrew_Bible_18:8-10) As these verses go on to describe, the being heard became manifest in the form of deliverance. All nature stands to man in a sympathetic relationship, sharing his curse and blessing, his destruction and glory, and to God is a (so to speak) synergetic relationship, furnishing the harbingers and instruments of His mighty deeds. Accordingly in this instance Jahve’s interposition on behalf of David is accompanied by terrible manifestations in nature. Like the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, Ps 68; Ps 77, and the giving of the Law on Sinai, Ex 19, and like the final appearing of Jahve and of Jesus Christ according to the words of prophet and apostle (Hab 3; 2Th 1:7.), the appearing of Jahve for the help of David has also extraordinary natural phenomena in its train. It is true we find no express record of any incident in David’s life of the kind recorded in 1Sa 7:10, but it must be come real experience which David here idealises (i.e., seizes at its very roots, and generalises and works up into a grand majestic picture of his miraculous deliverance). Amidst earthquake, a black thunderstorm gathers, the charging of which is heralded by the lightning’s flash, and its thick clouds descend nearer and nearer to the earth. The aorists in Psa 18:8 introduce the event, for the introduction of which, from Psa 18:4 onwards, the way has been prepared and towards which all is directed. The inward excitement of the Judge, who appears to His servant for his deliverance, sets the earth in violent oscillation. The foundations of the mountains (Isa 24:18) are that upon which they are supported beneath and within, as it were, the pillars which support the vast mass. געשׁ (rhyming with רעשׁ) is followed by the Hithpa. of the same verb: the first impulse having been given they, viz., the earth and the pillars of the mountains, continue to shake of themselves. These convulsions occur, because “it is kindled with respect to God;” it is unnecessary to supply אפּו, חרה לו is a synonym of חם לו. When God is wrath, according to Old Testament conception, the power of wrath which is present in Him is kindled and blazes up and breaks forth. The panting of rage may accordingly also be called the smoke of the fire of wrath (Psa 74:1; Psa 80:5). The smoking is as the breathing out of the fire, and the vehement hot breath which is inhaled and exhaled through the nose of one who is angry (cf. Job 41:12), is like smoke rising from the internal fire of anger. The fire of anger itself “devours out of the mouth,” i.e., flames forth out of the mouth, consuming whatever it lays hold of-in men in the form of angry words, with God in the fiery forces of nature, which are of a like kind with, and subservient to, His anger, and more especially in the lightning’s flash. It is the lightning chiefly, that is compared here to the blazing up of burning coals. The power of wrath in God, becoming manifest in action, breaks forth into a glow, and before it entirely discharges its fire, it gives warning of action like the lightning’s flash heralding the outburst of the storm. Thus enraged and breathing forth His wrath, Jahve bowed the heavens, i.e., caused them to bend towards the earth, and came down, and darkness of clouds (ערפל similar in meaning to ὄρφνη, cf. ἔρεβος) was under His feet: black, low-hanging clouds announced the coming of Him who in His wrath was already on His way downwards towards the earth. Psa 18:10-12 (Hebrew_Bible_18:11-13) The storm, announcing the approaching outburst of the thunderstorm, was also the forerunner of the Avenger and Deliverer. If we compare Psa 18:11 with Psa 104:3, it is natural to regard כּרוּב as a transposition of רכוּב (a chariot, Ew. §153, a). But assuming a relationship between the biblical Cherub and (according to Ctesias) the Indo-Persian griffin, the word (from the Zend grab , garew , garefsh, to seize) signifies a creature seizing and holding irrecoverably fast whatever it seizes upon; perhaps in Semitic language the strong creature, from כּרב = Arab. krb , torquere, constringere, whence mukrab, tight, strong). It is a passive form like גּבוּל, יסד, לבוּשׁ. The cherubim are mentioned in Gen 3:24 as the guards of Paradise (this alone is enough to refute the interpretation recently revived in the Evang. Kirchen-Zeit., 1866, No. 46, that they are a symbol of the unity of the living One, כרוב = כּרוב “like a multitude!”), and elsewhere, as it were, as the living mighty rampart and vehicle of the approach of the inaccessible majesty of God; and they are not merely in general the medium of God’s personal presence in the world, but more especially of the present of God as turning the fiery side of His doxa towards the world. As in the Prometheus of Aeschylus, Oceanus comes flying τὸν πτερυγωκῆ τόνδ ̓ οἰωνόν γνώμῃ στομίων ἄτερ εὐθύνων, so in the present passage Jahve rides upon the cherub, of which the heathenish griffin is a distortion; or, if by a comparison of passages like Psa 104:3; Isa 66:15, we understand David according to Ezekiel, He rides upon the cherub as upon His living throne-chariot (מרכּבה). The throne floats upon the cherubim, and this cherub-throne flies upon the wings of the wind; or, as we can also say: the cherub is the celestial spirit working in this vehicle formed of the spirit-like elements. The Manager of the chariot is Himself hidden behind the thick thunder-clouds. ישׁת is an aorist without the consecutive ו (cf. יך Hos 6:1). חשׁך is the accusative of the object to it; and the accusative of the predicate is doubled: His covering, His pavilion round about Him. In Job 36:29 also the thunder-clouds are called God’s סכּה, and also in Psa 97:2 they are סביביו, concealing Him on all sides and announcing only His presence when He is wroth. In Psa 18:12 the accusative of the object, חשׁך, is expanded into “darkness of waters,” i.e., swelling with waters ^{▼▼Rab Dimi, B. Taanîth 10 a, for the elucidation of the passage quotes a Palestine proverb: נהור ענני זעירין מוהי חשׁוך ענני סגיין מוהי i.e., if the clouds are transparent they will yield but little water, if they are dark they will yield a quantity.} and billows of thick vapour, thick, and therefore dark, masses (עב in its primary meaning of denseness, or a thicket, Exo 19:9, cf. Jer 4:29) of שׁחקים, which is here a poetical name for fleecy clouds. The dispersion and discharge, according to Psa 18:13, proceeded from נגהּ גגדּו. Such is the expression for the doxa of God as being a mirroring forth of His nature, as it were, over against Him, as being therefore His brightness, or the reflection of His glory. The doxa is fire and light. On this occasion the forces of wrath issue from it, and therefore it is the fiery forces: heavy and destructive hail (cf. Exo 9:23., Isa 30:30) and fiery glowing coals, i.e., flashing and kindling lightning. The object עביו stands first, because the idea of clouds, behind which, according to Psa 18:11, the doxa in concealed, is prominently connected with the doxa. It might be rendered: before His brightness His clouds turn into hail..., a rendering which would be more in accordance with the structure of the stichs, and is possible according to Ges. §138, rem. 2. Nevertheless, in connection with the combination of עבר with clouds, the idea of breaking through (Lam 3:44) is very natural. If עביו is removed, then עברו signifies “thence came forth hail...” But the mention of the clouds as the medium, is both natural and appropriate. Psa 18:13-15 (Hebrew_Bible_18:14-16) Amidst thunder, Jahve hurled lightnings as arrows upon David’s enemies, and the breath of His anger laid bare the beds of the flood to the very centre of the earth, in order to rescue the sunken one. Thunder is the rumble of God, and as it were the hollow murmur of His mouth, Job 37:2. עליון, the Most High, is the name of God as the inapproachable Judge, who governs all things. The third line of Psa 18:14 is erroneously repeated from the preceding strophe. It cannot be supported on grammatical grounds by Exo 9:23, since קול נתן, edere vocem, has a different meaning from the נתן קלת, dare tonitrua, of that passage. The symmetry of the strophe structure is also against it; and it is wanting both in 2 Sam. and in the lxx. רב, which, as the opposite of מעט Neh 2:12; Isa 10:7, means adverbially “in abundance,” is the parallel to ויּשׁלח. It is generally taken, after the analogy of Gen 49:23, in the sense of בּרק, Psa 144:6 : רב in pause = רב (the ō passing over into the broader å like עז instead of עז in Gen 49:3) = רבב, cognate with רבה, רמה; but the forms סב, סבּוּ, here, and in every other instance, have but a very questionable existence, as e.g., רב, Isa 54:13, is more probably an adjective than the third person praet. (cf. Böttcher, Neue Aehrenlese No. 635, 1066). The suffixes ēm do not refer to the arrows, i.e., lightnings, but to David’s foes. המם means both to put in commotion and to destroy by confounding, Exo 14:24; Exo 23:27. In addition to the thunder, the voice of Jahve, comes the stormwind, which is the snorting of the breath of His nostrils. This makes the channels of the waters visible and lays bare the foundations of the earth. אפיק (collateral form to אפק) is the bed of the river and then the river or brook itself, a continendo aquas (Ges.), and exactly like the Arabic mesı̂k , mesâk , mesek(from Arab. msk, the VI form of which, tamâsaka, corresponds to התאפּק), means a place that does not admit of the water soaking in, but on account of the firmness of the soil preserves it standing or flowing. What are here meant are the water-courses or river beds that hold the water. It is only needful for Jahve to threaten (epitiman Mat 8:26) and the floods, in which he, whose rescue is undertaken here, is sunk, flee (Psa 104:7) and dry up (Psa 106:9, Nah 1:4). But he is already half engulfed in the abyss of Hades, hence not merely the bed of the flood is opened up, but the earth is rent to its very centre. From the language being here so thoroughly allegorical, it is clear that we were quite correct in interpreting the description as ideal. He, who is nearly overpowered by his foes, is represented as one engulfed in deep waters and almost drowning. Psa 18:16-19 (Hebrew_Bible_18:17-20) Then Jahve stretches out His hand from above into the deep chasm and draws up the sinking one. The verb שׁלח occurs also in prose (2Sa 6:6) without יד (Psa 57:4, cf. on the other hand the borrowed passage, Psa 144:7) in the signification to reach (after anything). The verb משׁה, however, is only found in one other instance, viz., Exo 2:10, as the root (transferred from the Egyptian into the Hebrew) of the name of Moses, and even Luther saw in it an historical allusion, “He hath made a Moses of me,” He hath drawn me out of great (many) waters, which had well nigh swallowed me up, as He did Moses out of the waters of the Nile, in which he would have perished. This figurative language is followed, in Psa 18:18, by its interpretation, just as in Psa 144:7 the “great waters” are explained by מיּד בּני נכר, which, however, is not suitable here, or at least is too limited.

With Psa 18:17 the hymn has reached the climax of epic description, from which it now descends in a tone that becomes more and more lyrical. In the combination איבי עז, עז is not an adverbial accusative, but an adjective, like רוּחך טובה Psa 143:10, and ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός (Hebräerbrief S. 353). כּי introduces the reason for the interposition of the divine omnipotence, viz., the superior strength of the foe and the weakness of the oppressed one. On the day of his איד, i.e., (vid., on Psa 31:12) his load or calamity, when he was altogether a homeless and almost defenceless fugitive, they came upon him (קדּם Psa 17:13), cutting off all possible means of delivering himself, but Jahve became the fugitive’s staff (Psa 23:4) upon which he leaned and kept himself erect. By the hand of God, out of straits and difficulties he reached a broad place, out of the dungeon of oppression to freedom, for Jahve had delighted in him, he was His chosen and beloved one. חפץ has the accent on the penult here, and Metheg as a sign of the lengthening (העמדה) beside the ē, that it may not be read ĕ. ^{▼▼In like manner Metheg is placed beside the ee of the final closed syllable that has lost the tone in חפץ Psa 22:9, ותּחולל Psa 90:2, vid., Isaiah S. 594 note.}

The following strophe tells the reason of his pleasing God and of His not allowing him to perish. This כּי חפץ בּי (for He delighted in me) now becomes the primary thought of the song.