II
S A M U E L
CHAP. XXII.
This
chapter is a psalm, a psalm of praise; we find it afterwards inserted among
David's psalms (Ps. xviii.) with some little variation. We have it here as it
was first composed for his own closed and his own harp; but there we have it
as it was afterwards delivered to the chief musician for the service of the
church, a second edition with some amendments; for, though it was calculated
primarily for David's case, yet it might indifferently serve the devotion of
others, in giving thanks for their deliverances; or it was intended that his
people should thus join with him in his thanksgivings, because, being a public
person, his deliverances were to be accounted public blessings and called for
public acknowledgments. The inspired historian, having largely related David's
deliverances in this and the foregoing book, and one particularly in the close
of the foregoing chapter, thought fit to record this sacred poem as a memorial
of all that had been before related. Some think that David penned this psalm
when he was old, upon a general review of the mercies of his life and the many
wonderful preservations God had blessed him with, from first to last. We
should in our praises, look as far back as we can, and not suffer time to wear
out the sense of God's favours. Others think that he penned it when he was
young, upon occasion of some of his first deliverances, and kept it by him for
his use afterwards, and that, upon every new deliverance, his practice was to
sing this song. But the book of Psalms shows that he varied as there was
occasion, and confined not himself to one form. Here is, I. The title of the
psalm, ver. 1. II. The psalm itself, in which, with a very warm devotion and
very great fluency and copiousness of expression, 1. He gives glory to God. 2.
He takes comfort in him; and he finds matter for both, (1.) In the experiences
he had of God's former favours. (2.) In the expectations he had of his further
favours. These are intermixed throughout the whole psalm.
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David's
Song of Praise.
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B. C. 1020.
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1
And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of
the hand of Saul:
Observe here, I. That it has often been the lot of God's people to have many
enemies, and to be in imminent danger of falling into their hands. David was a
man after God's heart, but not after men's heart: many were those that hated
him, and sought his ruin; Saul is particularly named, either, 1. As
distinguished from his enemies of the heathen nations. Saul hated David, but
David did not hate Saul, and therefore would not reckon him among his enemies;
or, rather, 2. As the chief of his enemies, who was more malicious and
powerful than any of them. Let not those whom God loves marvel if the world
hate them.
II. Those that trust God in the way of duty shall find him a present help to
them in their greatest dangers. David did so. God delivered him out of the
hand of Saul. He takes special notice of this. Remarkable preservations should
be mentioned in our praises with a particular emphasis. He delivered him also out
of the hand of all his enemies, one after another, sometimes in one way,
sometimes in another; and David, from his own experience, has assured us that,
though many are the troubles of the righteous, yet the Lord delivers them out
of them all, Ps. xxxiv. 19. We shall never be delivered from all our
enemies till we get to heaven; and to that heavenly kingdom God will preserve
all that are his, 2 Tim. iv. 18.
III. Those that have received many signal mercies from God ought to give him
the glory of them. Every new mercy in our hand should put a new song into our
mouth, even praises to our God. Where there is a grateful heart, out of the
abundance of that the mouth will speak. David spoke, not only to himself, for
his own pleasure, not merely to those about him, for their instruction, but to
the Lord, for his honour, the words of this song. Then we sing with
grace when we sing to the Lord. In distress he cried with his voice
(Ps. cxlii. 1), therefore with his voice he gave thanks. Thanksgiving to God
is the sweetest vocal music.
IV. We ought to be speedy in our thankful returns to God: In the day that
God delivered him he sang this song. While the mercy is fresh, and our
devout affections are most excited by it, let the thank-offering be brought,
that it may be kindled with the fire of those affections.
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David's Thanksgiving.
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B. C. 1020.
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2
And he said, The LORD
is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; 3 The God of
my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my
salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from
violence. 4 I will call on the LORD,
who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine
enemies. 5 When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of
ungodly men made me afraid; 6 The sorrows of hell compassed me
about; the snares of death prevented me; 7 In my distress I called
upon the LORD,
and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did
enter into his ears. 8 Then the earth shook and trembled; the
foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth. 9
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured:
coals were kindled by it. 10 He bowed the heavens also, and came
down; and darkness was under his feet. 11 And he rode upon
a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
12 And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and
thick clouds of the skies. 13 Through the brightness before him
were coals of fire kindled. 14 The LORD
thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice. 15 And
he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.
16 And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were
discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD,
at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. 17 He sent from above,
he took me; he drew me out of many waters; 18 He delivered me from
my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong
for me. 19 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD
was my stay. 20 He brought me forth also into a large place: he
delivered me, because he delighted in me. 21 The LORD
rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my
hands hath he recompensed me. 22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
and have not wickedly departed from my God. 23 For all his
judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not
depart from them. 24 I was also upright before him, and have kept
myself from mine iniquity. 25 Therefore the LORD
hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness
in his eye sight. 26 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself
merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself
upright. 27 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with
the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury. 28 And the afflicted
people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that
thou mayest bring them down. 29 For thou art my
lamp, O LORD:
and the LORD
will lighten my darkness. 30 For by thee I have run through a
troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall. 31 As for God,
his way is perfect; the word of the LORD
is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.
32 For who is God, save the LORD?
and who is a rock, save our God? 33 God is my
strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect. 34 He
maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high
places. 35 He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is
broken by mine arms. 36 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy
salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great. 37 Thou hast
enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip. 38 I
have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I
had consumed them. 39 And I have consumed them, and wounded them,
that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet. 40
For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me
hast thou subdued under me. 41 Thou hast also given
me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.
42 They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. 43 Then did I beat them as
small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and
did spread them abroad. 44 Thou also hast delivered me from the
strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a
people which I knew not shall serve me. 45 Strangers shall
submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto
me. 46 Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of
their close places. 47 The LORD liveth;
and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my
salvation. 48 It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth
down the people under me, 49 And that bringeth me forth from mine
enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against
me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 50 Therefore I
will give thanks unto thee, O LORD,
among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. 51 He
is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his
anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.
Let us observe, in this song of praise,
I. How David adores God, and gives him the glory of his infinite perfections.
There is none like him, nor any to be compared with him (v. 32): Who
is God, save the Lord? All others that are adored as deities are
counterfeits and pretenders. None is to be relied on but he. Who is a rock,
save our God? They are dead, but the Lord liveth, v. 47.
They disappoint their worshippers when they most need them. But as for God
his way is perfect, v. 31. Men begin in kindness, but end
not-promise, but perform not; but God will finish his work, and his word is
tried, and what we may trust.
II. How he triumphs in the interest he has in this God, and his relation to
him, which he lays down as the foundation of all the benefits he has received
from him: He is my God; as such he cries to him (v. 7), and
cleaves to him (v. 22); "and, if my God, then my rock"
(v. 2), that is, "my strength and my power (v. 33), the
rock under which I take shelter (he who is to me as the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land), the rock on which I build my hope," v. 3.
Whatever is my strength and support, it is the God of my rock that makes it
so; nay, he is the God of the rock of my salvation (v. 47):
my saving strength is in him and from him. David often hid himself in a rock
(1 Sam. xxiv. 2), but God was his chief hiding-place. "He is my fortress,
in which I am safe and think myself so--my high tower, or stronghold,
in which I am out of the reach of real evils--the tower of salvation (v.
51), which can never be sealed nor battered, nor undermined. Salvation itself
saves me. Am I in distress? he is my deliverer--struck at, shot at? he is my
shield--pursued? he is my refuge--oppressed? he is my saviour, that rescues me
out of the hand of those that seek my ruin. Nay, he is the horn of my
salvation, by which I am strongly protected, and my enemies are strongly
pushed." Christ is spoken of as the horn of salvation in the house
of David, Luke i. 69. "Am I burdened, and ready to sink? The Lord is
my stay (v. 19), by whom I am supported. Am I in the dark,
benighted, at a loss? Thou art my lamp, O Lord! to show me my way, and
thou wilt dispel my darkness," v. 29. If we sincerely take
the Lord for our God, all this, and much more, he will be to us, all we need
and can desire.
III. What improvement he makes of his interest in God. If he be mine, 1. In
him will I trust (v. 3), that is, "I will resign myself to his
direction, and then depend upon his power, and wisdom, and goodness, to
conduct me well." 2. On him I will call (v. 4), for he
is worthy to be praised. What we have found in God that is worthy to be
praised should engage us to pray to him and give glory to him. 3. To him
will I give thanks (v. 50), and that publicly. When he was among
the heathen he would neither be afraid nor ashamed to own his obligations to
the God of Israel.
IV. The full and large account he keeps for himself, and gives to others, of
the great and kind things God had done for him. This takes up most of the
song. He gives God the glory both of his deliverances and of his successes,
showing both the perils he was delivered from and the power he was advanced
to.
1. He magnifies the great salvations God had wrought for him. God sometimes
brings his people into very great difficulties and dangers, that he may have
the honour of saving them and they the comfort of being saved by him. He owns,
Thou hast saved me from violence (v. 3), from my enemies
(v. 4), from my strong enemy, meaning Saul, who, if God had not
succoured him, would have been too hard for him, v. 18. Thou hast given
me the shield of thy salvation, v. 36. To magnify the salvation,
he observes,
(1.) That the danger was very great and threatening out of which he was
delivered. Men rose up against him (v. 40, 49) that hated him
(v. 41), a violent man (v. 49) namely, Saul, who was
malicious in his designs against him and vigorous in his pursuit. This is
expressed figuratively, v. 5, 6. He was surrounded with death on every
side, threatened to be overwhelmed, and saw no way of escape. So violently did
the waves of death beat upon him, so strongly did the cords and snares of
death hold him, that he could not help himself, any more than a man in the
grave can. The floods of Belial, the wicked one, and his wicked instruments,
made him afraid; he trembled to see not only earth, but death and hell, in
arms against him.
(2.) That his deliverance was an answer to prayer, v. 7. He has here
left us a good example, when we are in distress, to cry unto God with
importunity, as children in a fright cry to their parents; and great
encouragement to do so, in that he found God ready to answer prayer out of his
temple in heaven, where he is continually served and adored.
(3.) That God appeared in a singular and extraordinary manner for him and
against his enemies. The expressions are borrowed from the descent of the
divine Majesty upon
Mount Sinai
, v. 8, 9, &c. We do not find that in any
of David's battles God fought for him with thunder (as in Samuel's time), or
with hail (as in Joshua's time), or with the stars in their courses (as in
Deborah's time); but these lofty metaphors are used, [1.] To set forth the
glory of God, which was manifested in his deliverance. God's wisdom and power,
his goodness and faithfulness, his justice and holiness, and his sovereign
dominion over all the creatures and all the counsels of men, which appeared in
favour of David, were as clear and bright a discovery of God's glory to an eye
of faith as such miraculous interpositions would have been to an eye of sense.
[2.] To set forth God's displeasure against his enemies, God so espoused his
cause that he showed himself an enemy to all his enemies; his anger is set
forth by a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth
(v. 9), coals kindled (v. 13), arrows, v.
15. Who knows the power and terror of his wrath? [3.] To set forth the
extraordinary confusion which his enemies were put into, and the consternation
that seized them; as if the earth had trembled and the foundations of the
world had been discovered, v. 8, 16. Who can stand before God when
he is angry? [4.] To show how ready God was to help him: He rode upon a
cherub and did fly, v. 11. God hastened to his succour, and came to
him with seasonable relief, though he had seemed at a distance; yet he was a
God hiding himself (Isa. xiv. 15), for he made darkness his pavilion
(v. 12), for the amazement of his enemies and the protection of his own
people.
(4.) That God manifested his particular favour and kindness to him in these
deliverances (v. 20): He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
The deliverance came not from common providence, but covenant-love; he was
herein treated as a favourite: so he perceived by the communications of divine
grace and comfort to his soul with these deliverances, and the communion he
had with God in them. Herein he was a type of Christ, whom God upheld because
he delighted in him, Isa. xlii. 1, 2.
2. He magnifies the great successes God had crowned him with. He had not only
preserved but prospered him. He was blessed, (1.) With liberty and
enlargement. He was brought into a large place (v. 20), where he
had room to thrive, and his steps were enlarged under him, so that he
had room to stir (v. 37), being no longer straitened and confined. (2.)
With military skill, and strength, and swiftness. Though he was bred up to the
crook, he was well instructed in the arts of war and qualified for the toils
and perils of it. God, having called him to fight his battles, qualified him
for the service. He made him very ingenious (He teacheth my hands to war,
v. 35. And this ingenuity was as good as strength, for it follows,
"so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms," not so much by
main force as by dexterity), and very vigorous and valiant. (Thou hast
girded me with strength to battle, v. 40. He gives God the glory of
all his courage and ability for service), and very expeditious: He maketh
my feet swift like hinds feet (v. 34), which is of great advantage
both in charging and retreating. (3.) With victory over his enemies, not only
Saul and Absalom, but the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Syrians, and other
neighbouring nations, whom he subdued and made tributaries to
Israel
. His wonderful victories are here described, v.
38-43. They were speedy victories (I turned not again till I had
consumed them, v. 38) and complete victories. The enemies of
Israel
were wounded, destroyed, consumed, fell under
his feet, trampled upon, and disabled to rise, and their necks lay at his
mercy. They cried both to earth and heaven for help, but in vain. There was
none to save, none that durst appear for them. God answered them, not
for they were not on his side, nor did they cry unto him till they were
brought to the last extremity. Being thus abandoned, they became an easy prey
to David's righteous and victorious sword, so that he beat them as small as
the dust of the earth, which is scattered by the wind and trodden on by
every foot. (4.) With advancement to honour and power. To this he was anointed
before his troubles began, and at length, post tot discrimina rerum--after
all his dangers and disasters, he gained his point. God made his way
perfect (v. 33), gave him success in all his undertakings, set
him upon his high places (v. 34), denoting both safety and dignity.
God's gentleness, his grace and tender mercy, made him great (v.
36), gave him great wealth, and great authority, and a name like that of the
great men of the earth. He was kept to be the head of the heathen (v.
44); his signal preservations evinced that he was designed and reserved for
something great--to rule over all Israel, notwithstanding the strivings of
the people, and so that those whom he had not known should serve him,
many of the nations that lay remote. Thus he was lifted up on high, as
high as the throne, above those that rose up against him, v. 49.
V. The comfortable reflections he makes upon his own integrity, which God, by
those wonderful deliverances, had graciously owned and witnessed to, v.
21-25. He means especially his integrity with reference to Saul and Ishbosheth,
Absalom and
Sheba
, and those who either opposed his coming to the
crown or endeavoured to dethrone him. They falsely accused him and
misrepresented him, but he had the testimony of this conscience for him that
he was not an ambitious aspiring man, a false and bloody man, as they called
him,--that he had never taken any indirect unlawful courses to secure or raise
himself, but in his whole conduct had kept in the way of his duty,--and that
in the whole course of his conversation he had, for the main, made religion
his business, so that he could take God's favours to him as the rewards of his
righteousness, not of debt, but of grace. God had recompensed him, though not
for his righteousness, as if that had merited any thing at the hand of God,
yet according to his righteousness, which he was well pleased with, and had an
eye to. His conscience witnessed for him, 1. That he had made the word of God
his rule, and had kept to it, v. 23. Wherever he was, God's judgments
were before him as his guide; whithersoever he went, he took his religion
along with him, and though he was forced to depart from his country, and sent,
as it were, to serve other gods, yet as for God's statutes, he did not depart
from them, but kept the way of the Lord and walked in it. 2. That he had
carefully avoided the bye-paths of sin. He had not wickedly departed from his
God. He could not say but that he had taken some false steps, but he had not
deserted God, nor forsaken his way. Sins of infirmity he could not acquit
himself from, but the grace of God had kept him from presumptuous sins. Though
he had sometimes weakly departed from his God. By this it appeared that
he was upright before God, or to God (in his sight, and with an
eye to him), that he kept himself from his own iniquity, not only from
that particular sin of killing Saul when it was in the power of his hand to do
it, but, in general, he was afraid of sin and watchful against it, and made
conscience of what he said and did. The matter of Uriah is an exception (1
Kings xv. 5), like that in Hezekiah's character, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. Note, A
careful abstaining from our own iniquity is one of the best evidences of our
own integrity; and the testimony of our conscience for us that we have done so
will be such a rejoicing as will not only lessen the griefs of an afflicted
state, but increase the comforts of a prosperous state. David reflected with
more comfort upon his victories over his own iniquity than upon his conquest
of Goliath and all the hosts of the uncircumcised Philistines; and the witness
of his own heart to his uprightness was sweeter though more silent music than
theirs that sang, David has slain his ten thousands. If a great man be
a good man, his goodness will be much more his satisfaction than his
greatness. Let favour be shown to the upright and his uprightness will sweeten
it, will double it.
VI. The comfortable prospects he has of God's further favour. As he looks
back, so he looks forward, with pleasure, and assures himself of the kindness
God has in store for all the saints, for himself, and also for his seed.
1. For all good people, v. 26-28. As God had dealt with him according
to his uprightness, so he will with all others. He takes occasion here to lay
down the established rules of God's procedure with the children of men:--
(1.) That he will do good to those that are upright in their hearts. As we are
found towards God, he will be found towards us. [1.] God's mercy and grace
will be the joy of those that are merciful and gracious. Even the merciful
need mercy; and they shall obtain it. [2.] God's uprightness, his justice and
faithfulness, will be the joy of those that are upright, just, and faithful,
both towards God and man. [3.] God's purity and holiness will be the joy of
those that are pure and holy, who therefore give thanks at the remembrance
thereof. And, if any of these good people be afflicted people, he will save
them, either out of their afflictions or by and after them. On the other hand,
(2.) That those who turn aside to crooked ways he will lead forth with the
workers of iniquity, as he says in another psalm. With the froward he
will wrestle; and those with whom God wrestles are sure to be foiled. Woe
unto him that strives with his Maker! God will walk contrary to those that
walk contrary to him and be displeased with those that are displeased with
him. As for the haughty, his eyes are upon them, marking them out, as it were,
to be brought down; for he resists the proud.
2. For himself. He foresaw that his conquests and kingdom would be yet further
enlarged, v. 45, 46. Even the sons of the stranger, that would
hear the report of his victories and the tokens of God's presence with him,
would be possessed with a fear of him, would be forced to submit to him,
though feignedly, and would be obedient to him. The successes which he had had
he looked upon as earnests of more and means of more. Who durst oppose him by
whom so many had been overcome? Thus the Son of David goes on conquering
and to conquer, Rev. vi. 2. His gospel, which has been victorious, shall
be so more and more.
3. For his seed: He showeth mercy to his Messiah (v. 51), not
only to David himself, but to that seed of his for evermore. David was himself
anointed of God, not a usurper, but duly called to the government and
qualified for it; therefore he doubted not but God would show mercy to him,
that mercy which he had promised not to take from him nor from his posterity (ch.
vii. 15, 16); on that promise he depends, with an eye to Christ, who alone is
his seed for evermore, whose throne and kingdom still continue, and
will to the end, whereas the seed and lineage of David are long since extinct.
See Ps. lxxxix. 28, 29. Thus all his joys and all his hopes terminate, as ours
should, in the great Redeemer.
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