2 Samuel 22:3

22:1-51 David's psalm of thanksgiving. - This chapter is a psalm of praise; we find it afterwards nearly as Ps 18. They that trust God in the way of duty, shall find him a present help in their greatest dangers: David did so. Remarkable preservations should be particularly mentioned in our praises. We shall never be delivered from all enemies till we get to heaven. God will preserve all his people, 2Ti 4:18. Those who receive signal mercies from God, ought to give him the glory. In the day that God delivered David, he sang this song. While the mercy is fresh, and we are most affected with it, let the thank-offering be brought, to be kindled with the fire of that affection. All his joys and hopes close, as all our hopes should do, in the great Redeemer.

(3) The God of my rock. —In the psalm, “My God, my rock” (margin). The two expressions of the psalm are here united in one, and the recurrence of the similar expression in 2Samuel 22:47 (but not in the psalm) indicates that this was intentional. And my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.—These words are omitted from the psalm, being compensated in part by the opening line there.

3 . The God of my rock ] = my strong God: but it is better to alter the vowel points and read as in the Ps., “my God, my Rock.” The title Rock is frequently used to describe the strength, faithfulness, and unchangeableness of God. See Deuteronomy 32:4 ; Deuteronomy 32:37 ; 1 Samuel 2:2 ; Psalm 28:1 , &c. in him will I trust ] Better, in whom I take refuge : carrying on the metaphor of a hiding-place in the rocks. Quoted in Hebrews 2:13 ; cp. Psalm 94:22 . my shield ] Compare God’s promise to Abram ( Genesis 15:1 ); and Deuteronomy 33:29 . the horn of my salvation ] The Power which saves and delivers me. The figure of the horn, as a symbol of victorious strength, is derived from horned animals. Cp. Deuteronomy 33:17 ; Luke 1:69 . and my refuge , &c.] The words, “and my retreat , my saviour, thou savest me from violence,” are omitted in Psalms 18. 2 Samuel 22:3

This song, which is found with scarcely any material variation as Psalm 18 , and with the words of this first verse for its title, belongs to the early part of David's reign when he was recently established upon the throne of all Israel, and when his final triumph over the house of Saul, and over the pagan nations 2 Samuel 22:44-46 , Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Ammonites, and Edomites, was still fresh 2 Samuel 21 . For a commentary on the separate verses the reader is referred to the commentary on Psalm 18 . The last words of David - i. e., his last Psalm, his last "words of song" 2 Samuel 22:1. The insertion of this Psalm, which is not in the Book of Psalms, was probably suggested by the insertion of the long Psalm in 2 Samuel 22. David the son of Jesse said ... - The original word for "said" is used between 200 and 300 times in the phrase, "saith the Lord," designating the word of God in the mouth of the prophet. It is only applied to the words of a man here, and in the strikingly similar passage Numbers 24:3-4, Numbers 24:15-16, and in Proverbs 30:1; and in all these places the words spoken are inspired words. The description of David is divided into four clauses, which correspond to and balance each other.

CHAPTER 22 2Sa 22:1-51. David's Psalm of Thanksgiving for God's Powerful Deliverance and Manifold Blessings. The song contained in this chapter is the same as the eighteenth Psalm, where the full commentary will be given [see on [278]Ps 18:1, &c.]. It may be sufficient simply to remark that Jewish writers have noticed a great number of very minute variations in the language of the song as recorded here, from that embodied in the Book of Psalms—which may be accounted for by the fact that this, the first copy of the poem, was carefully revised and altered by David afterwards, when it was set to the music of the tabernacle. This inspired ode was manifestly the effusion of a mind glowing with the highest fervor of piety and gratitude, and it is full of the noblest imagery that is to be found within the range even of sacred poetry. It is David's grand tribute of thanksgiving for deliverance from his numerous and powerful enemies, and establishing him in the power and glory of the kingdom.

3 The God of Israel saith, The Rock of Israel speaketh to me: A Ruler over men, just, A Ruler in the fear of God. 4 And as light of the morning, when the sun rises, As morning without clouds: From shining out of rain (springeth) green out of the earth. 5 For is not my house thus with God? For He hath made me an everlasting covenant, Provided with all, and attested; For all my salvation and all good pleasure, Should He then not cause it to grow? As the prophets generally preface their saying with "thus saith the Lord," so David commences his prophetic saying with "the God of Israel saith," for the purpose of describing it most emphatically as the word of God. He designates God "the God" and "The Rock" (as in 2 Samuel 22:3) of Israel, to indicate that the contents of his prophecy relate to the salvation of the people of Israel, and are guaranteed by the unchangeableness of God. The saying which follows bears the impress of a divine oracle even in its enigmatical brevity. The verbs are wanting in the different sentences of 2 Samuel 23:3 and 2 Samuel 23:4. "A ruler over men," sc., "will arise," or there will be. בּאדם does not mean "among men," but "over men;" for בּ is to be taken as with the verb משׁל, as denoting the object ruled over (cf. Genesis 3:16; Genesis 4:7, etc.). האדם does not mean certain men, but the human race, humanity. This ruler is "just" in the fullest sense of the word, as in the passages founded upon this, viz., Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 9:9, and Psalm 72:2.