Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 1 February 2015, 1 Jan 2022
This is the third of four sermons on 2 Samuel 22, which parallels Psalm 18, in which King David speaks of his relationship with God as his Savior.
He acknowledges, as all Christians should also do, that in-and-of himself, he was not o.k. and he needed salvation, and when God saved him, he gave the glory to God for God’s lovingkindness,
yet David also recognized that those who are saved by God are commanded and empowered by God to do certain things, things which characterize all believers:
The first of these actions I covered two weeks ago: We call out to God for deliverance. (Those who are saved by God are those who ask God to save them.)
The second action which I introduced last week was that our spiritual salvation comes by God making us right with him, but those who are thus saved by God, own God’s righteousness by living righteously. That is, we respond to the righteousness and authority of God by valuing God’s law and walking in obedience to it as the general theme of our life, and even when we fall into sin, we repent and ask forgiveness and step back into God’s righteousness, because we value being right with God.
The third action I want to introduce now is related: Those who are saved by God are those who fight and win over the enemies of God. Verses 29-43 highlight the fact that David was such a man. David’s whole life was characterized by warfare against the enemies of God.
It started when he was a shepherd boy in the hill country of Judea around Bethlehem, killing bears and lions that threatened his flock of sheep.
Then there was his adolescent monomachy with the giant Goliath in the wars against the Philistines when they invaded Israel.
The fame David earned from that eventually got him crosswise with King Saul, resulting in a period of self-defense warfare tactics against Saul – an enemy whom it was not ethical to kill.
Eventually, however, David became king, and then he was able to really lead his nation in offensive warfare against all the nations that were trying to encroach upon his country.
Then his sons started fighting over who would get to be king next, plunging David into the middle of a civil war which he only barely managed to win.
Warfare was David’s life, and this section of the Psalm indicates that David’s warfare was part and parcel of God’s salvation in his life.
Notice that verses 29 and 30 (as well as other verses) start with the word “for/because.” I believe they relate back to one of the chiastic highlights of the psalm, vs. 19-20, where we read, “They confronted me in my day of calamity, but Yahweh has became my support, and He has brought me out to freedom. He snatched me up because He delighted in me.” These “for/because” statements are answering the question, “Why did God save me?”
Read my version, starting at v.28 {For You} Yourself will cause to save a lowly people. Your eyes are also upon the haughty; You will bring them low. For You Yourself are my lamp, Yahweh. Indeed, it is Yahweh who causes my darkness to glimmer. For with You I will rush a battalion; with my God I will jump a parapet. This God has integrity in His manner; the speech of Yahweh is pure. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him. Because who is God apart from Yahweh alone? And who is a landmark-rock apart from our God alone? This God is the One who {equips} me with resource[s] and unleashes the integrity of {my} way, who makes my feet like those of deer such that He causes me to stand upon my high places, the One who trains my hands for the battle, such that a bow of bronze flexes in my arms. You also gave me the shield of Your salvation, and it is Your lowliness that made me great. You lengthened my stride under me, and my ankles did not sprain. I hunted down my enemies and destroyed them. Indeed I did not turn back until their defeat. {} I blasted a hole through them, so that they {could} not rise up again; they will lie-fallen under my feet. So You really equipped me with resource[s] for the battle; You caused those who rose up against me to kneel under me. And, as for my enemies, You gave to me [their bowed] neck, and as for those who hated me, I annihilated them. They {hollered}, but there was no savior – to Yahweh, but He did not answer them. So I pulverized them like the dust on the ground; like mud on the streets I crushed them {}.
As David does throughout the psalm, he first asserts in verses 28-29, the primacy of God in saving him from hostile foes before asserting his own role in the fighting.
God is the “savior.”
God is the one who “pulls the haughty down,”
and God is the one who is David’s “light.”
Without God, “darkness” is all that David owns.
The Hebrew verb for “light” is used in the O.T. to describe
how God created the sun to shine physical light (Gen. 1:17),
how God set a pillar of fire in the desert to give protection to the children of Israel (Ps. 105:39),
and how God provides knowledge and grace into the darkness of ignorance and sin (Ps. 118:27; 119:130).
In the Bible, God is the source of light, and that is emphasized in the Hebrew text by a doubling of the subject “You Yourself” which, unfortunately is not brought out in most English translations. One thing that this statement emphasizes is that despite the actions of David, God is the main actor. Don’t loose sight of the fact that God is our savior; He is the One to keep our eyes on.
Also, in the Bible, lamps are a symbol for living existence (e.g. Ex. 37:23). As Proverbs 20:27 put it, “a man’s soul is a lamp of God.” For God to be David’s light meant that God is David’s life – the one who keeps him alive, so I see this testimony in v.29 as an answer to David’s anguished prayer in Psalm 13:3-4 “...answer me, Yahweh my God, cause there to be light toward my eyes, otherwise I will sleep the [sleep of] death...” (cf. Job 33:30)
The glimmering of light in “my” darkness in the second half of v.29 is a rarely-used Hebrew verb, but it is the same gleam we see in the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of death’s shadow, a glimmering light has arisen on them.” The ultimate lamp of David is the Lord Jesus Christ, who brings “life and light” and salvation to all who believe in Him.
David says he could advance against a troop/battalion. To give a sense of perspective, 2 Chronicles 25:13 describes a “troop” that contained 100,000 soldiers. Troops probably weren’t always that big, but they were still an intimidating number of warriors. To run into the middle of a sizable band of warriors with nothing but a hand weapon would be unthinkable, yet David did it.
Now, David had 600 men in his own troop, but he was a bit uncertain as to whether he should attack the Amalekite army in 1 Samuel 30. Abiathar the priest, however, told David to “go for it” because God was with him, so, with faith in God’s power to deliver, David chased after the Amalekite army. After a while, 200 of David’s men bagged out on him, but he kept after the Amalekites with the 400 men he had left. When they finally reached the Amalekite troops, there were so many, it says they were spread out all over the land, but David knew God was with him, so he didn’t hesitate to run right into them, and God gave him an amazing victory. And he could do it again with God by his side.
David also claims that God helped him vault a city wall like a deer jumps a barbed-wire fence. Most of the occurrences of this word “leap” outside of this Psalm are referring to stags jumping (Song of Solomon 2:8; Isaiah 35:6). Have you ever seen one do that? It’s like their hind legs are made of springs – Boing and they’re over it, still running like the wind. Principal cities around David’s time were built with a big wall surrounding them, so when David attacked Philistine and Canaanite towns, he had get over their wall or through their wall in order to conquer (or, in the case of the conquest of Jerusalem, he got under their wall).
Another way this could possibly be interpreted is that there was actually a town named “wall” (or “Shur” in Hebrew) on the southern extremity of Israel that David and his men did conquer. It was kind-of the last stop south of Israel before you got to Egypt, so there is a possibility that David is saying that God could give him the ability to leap over the town of Shur and conquer Egypt next.
Whatever the specific historical references are, David frames himself as an active participant in this warfare, while giving the glory to God.
David didn’t say, “Oh dear, the Philistines say I’m not qualified to fight, and the Amalekites captured my wife and children; I’m just going to sit down and cry.” No, he ran, he jumped, he swung weapons at real enemies until he had won the day.
And he didn’t stop running when he got tired (like the 200 men did at the brook Besor), and he didn’t stop fighting until every last enemy was killed. He couldn’t afford to leave even one alive to mobilize any more enemies against him.
Looking beyond the physical application of military service to the application of spiritual warfare, are you taking action against the enemies of your soul, like David took action in the power of God against his nation’s enemies?
Are you on the offensive against sin, making advances, pursuing victories, and destroying threats like David was?
So many in our culture are just coasting along, experiencing life as it comes to them, rather than taking the battle to the evil with an aggressive agenda to annihilate particular sins.
On the other hand, there are the many “social justice warriors” in our culture who have identified an evil, but are fighting it in their own human strength. And because many of them are doing it in their own human wisdom, they are confused, fighting against things God commends as good and defending things God says are evil.
Who are you taking your marching orders from? Ask God to identify a sin in your life and give you clear direction as to how to fight it in His strength. Like David, learn from God how to make war and receive from God the shield of salvation.
And once you’ve engaged battle under God’s direction against sin, don’t quit until it’s really conquered. Don’t turn back until that sin is destroyed so that it can’t rise again!
About 20 years ago my father gave me some advice on this topic that has really stuck with me. We were talking about the fact that, every once in a while, I was succumbing to the temptation of a particular sin, and, after trying every strategy in the books for years to combat that sin, I was resigning myself to the idea that this was just an occasional sin – and a minor one at that – that I would just have to struggle with for the rest of my life. But my Dad told me, “Son, sin is not something a Christian should tolerate; it’s not something about which you should feel justified if it persists after you’ve applied the average standard-of-care to fight it. You need instead to have the attitude of doing ‘whatever it takes’ to eradicate the sin.”
And he recommended I take the fight to a whole new level. For me, that involved some very expensive in-patient counseling. I didn’t know of anybody who had ever gone to the extreme of in-patient counseling for such a minor problem; it seemed like overkill – like calling the fire department to help me blow out the dinner candles. But I took my Dad’s advice. And that led to taking more radical measures, including scheduling a meeting to confess my sin in a gathering of all the pastors in the region in my denomination. Some of the pastors responded by committing to pray for me; others scoffed that my issue was so small and so normal that I needn’t have troubled them with it.
But it was worth doing “whatever it took” in order to actually stop committing that sin and to experience freedom from the power of that sin and to see the revolutionary effect on my relationships with other people. (I remember being struck one day with the thought that now the worst guilt I experienced was when my wife caught me picking my nose.) That nagging fear that I would fall again to that sin (and the dark cloud of guilt that came with it) was gone. It is worth doing “whatever it takes” to stamp out sin so that it cannot rise again.
God and His ways (that is, His law1) are characterized by “integrity/wholeness/soundness/faultlessness,” and He shares this character trait out with those who love Him, v. 26 “with a man of integrity, you will show integrity,” so that’s why David could say earlier in v.24, “I have integrity/ blamelessness...” God is characterized by integrity, and God shares His integrity with His people.
Secondly, what God has said and recorded in the Bible is “pure/tried/proven/true/flawless.” The root of the Hebrew word tserufah here is the same as the smelting furnace in Psalm 12:6 that refines gold or silver until it is pure: “The sayings of Yahweh are sayings of purity – silver, smelted in the crucible on the ground, refined seven times.” (NAW) There is no error or untruth in what God says. He has integrity; His way is perfect. That’s why the Holy Bible is so foundational to us!
The third thing that v.31 asserts flows into personal application: Only a God who has no evil in Him – and who sends forth no evil from Him – can truly protect those who take refuge in Him from evil.
Part of being a good soldier is knowing when to take cover and knowing where it is actually safe to take cover – not being fooled by false security – and then actually getting yourself to safety instead of foolishly exposing yourself to danger.
In your spiritual life, are you ducking into the cover of the solid rock of God’s word to let it fill you with truth before you step into the spiritual warfare of everyday life and all the lies that it hurls at you? Failure to do this could have painful consequences.
Part of your spiritual warfare is taking the time to secure that “belt of truth” before entering the fray.
Here is a case where sitting on your hands for a time (if that’s what it takes to sit still and listen to God) is actually a strategic warfare measure!
David has obviously been reading God’s word and letting it affect him because this psalm repeats many of the words and phrases of Deuteronomy 32, where Moses stated, “...Ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He... He has made you and established you... the LORD'S portion is His people... He cared for [them], He guarded [them] as the pupil of His eye... The LORD alone guided [them], And there was no foreign god with him. He made them] ride on the high places of the earth…” (NASB)
v.32 completes the thought with an argument that God can provide righteousness and refuge because He’s the only one high enough to be God and the only God transcendent enough to provide refuge from evil. (The Hebrew word for God here, elohim, has to do with being “elevated.”)
God, who Himself (Ps. 65:7, 93:1) is “armed/girded with strength/resources” shares with David that with which He Himself is equipped.
The Hebrew wording in verses 33 and 40 makes me think of strapping on a belt with a couple of .45 revolvers holstered in it and hundreds of bullets tucked into the belt all around.
One of the offensive weapons God girds us with is His word, the Bible, which scripture calls a “powerful, sharp… sword” (Heb. 4:12).
But with the power comes a gift of moral character to use that force blamelessly, with integrity, as a king should, using the power of the sword (which God gives to civil magistrates to punish evil - Rom. 13:4), without abusing people with this power like a despot (Mat. 20:25).
vs. 34 speaks of God making David’s feet like the feet of deer (cf. Hab. 3:19), probably connoting the ability to move quickly to safety. Now, when you come up on a deer or a mountain goat in the wild, they don’t say, “Hey Mr. Human, I’ve got these special hooves that God gave me to be great at climbing rocks, but I’m just going to lie here and let you eat me.” No, they use those hooves and jet up a cliff face and disappear to safety!
God causes David to stand on David’s “high places.”
I think it’s referring figuratively to the good feelings of prosperous times. Isaiah 58:14 uses the same phrase to say something similar: “[If you keep the Sabbath holy] Then you will indulge yourself upon Yahweh, and I will make you ride upon the high places of earth, and I will cause you to eat of the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken” (NAW, cf. Deut. 32:13). God brings good times when we are in fellowship with Him.
Other commentators suggest, however, that the high places are battlefields – like the mountain on which Saul and Jonathan fought their last battle (2 Sam. 1:19, 25), so they focus on the verb “sets/causes to stand” at the end of v. 34 and interpret it that instead of “falling” (like Saul & Jonathan did on the heights), David will remain “standing” – victorious after the battle.
Still others have suggested that the “high places” are safe places in the mountains where David was able to escape from Saul.2 And since the genre we’re reading here is poetry, it is perfectly reasonable to find all of these realities connoted by this poetic line.
But whatever the specific application, David did the fighting, David did the climbing, and then David gave the credit to God for bringing him to triumph and to safety, because when David was fighting, he was relying upon the wisdom and strength of God all along. That’s the way we should live our Christian life.
In v. 35, God “trains [David’s] hands for war”: whether gaining accuracy in target-practice with his slingshot or spear, or learning the moves to parry and strike with a sword. David will use his God-trained hands to fight enemies and kill them.
And we read of him using a “bow of brass/bronze/steel.” The Hebrew word for this kind of metal is frequently used in the Bible to indicate something extraordinarily hard (cf. Job 40:18, Isa. 48:4, Micah 4:13). Whether this is a crossbow or compound bow which actually incorporated a metal leaf-spring, or whether this is a figure of speech for a longbow with a heavy draw, or for a deadly phalanx of enemy archers (Willett), David will use his weapon in battle, trusting in God for victory, and then he will attribute his strength in using it (and the victory) to God.
In v.36, God gives David a shield which is God’s salvation, perhaps referring to Jesus Himself or perhaps to the shield of faith (which Ephesians 6:16 tells Christians to “take up”). David fought using the shield God provided. When we fight against evil, we need a good defense. When we trust Jesus to protect us, His “defense is sure”!
And the end of v.36 has a marvelous statement about the “lowliness/stooping down/gentleness” of God (which is the same root as the word in v.28 for “humble/afflicted/lowly” which describes the kind of people God saves). Here is an Old Testament version of Philippians 2, which describes Jesus humbly “emptying Himself” - descending to earth to commune with His creatures and to provide atonement for us on the cross, then rising from the dead to sit at the right hand of God in heaven. It is Jesus’ “stooping/lowliness” which is the means by which His people who place their trust and hope in Him will be glorified with Him in the heights of heaven.
In v.37, David gives glory to God for “widening the path” and “opening up margin” for him (cf. Ps. 4:1) so that he can walk with longer steps, not having to worry about obstacles that might “sprain his ankles.” Once again we have a picture of David doing something – “striding” (“stepping” down the war-path) – yet doing it with God’s help and blessing.
On into v. 40, David is actively fighting in battle, but then he gives the glory to God for subduing the rebels.
In vs. 41-42 David is annihilating enemies, but says it was God who made them vulnerable through leaving them to their own devices and through giving them over to David.
The original language in v.41 is literally that God “gave” to David the “neck” of his enemies.
Most English versions translate that as the view of the nape of the neck which you would see of an adversary who is running away from you, and that may be so,
but I think this is describing the view of the nape of the neck of a subject who is bowing to acknowledge David as his king.
Whatever the case, David says that this is a gift “given” from God; God is in control of the outcome of the battles David fought, and God gave the victory as a gift to David instead of giving the victory to David’s enemies.
12. Finally, v.42 implies that David’s enemies lost because God did not make Himself available to help them, even though they asked God to help them.
Andrew Willett, in his commentary on 2 Samuel (published in the year 1611), wrote, “And this difference also there is betweene the prayers of the faithfull and vnfaithfull: the one [like David] as they are perswaded of Gods power, so they also are assured of his loue: but the other, though they confesse Gods power, yet they doe not trust vnto his mercie. So the prayers of such are not accepted, neither doe enter into Gods presence: as the Lord saith [in] Prov. 1.28 They shall call vpon mee, but I will not answer: So the Lord dealt with Saul, refusing to giue him any answer at all.”
Both David and his enemies were fighting, but it was the man who was trusting God to save him and the one whom God chose to be with who won the day.
David pursued his enemies with perseverance until they were all gone.
V.39 indicates that there were people David killed by thrusting them through with an arrow or spear.
The way some of the English versions render v.39 creates the mental picture of David mowing people down by kicking his feet,
but I think this is a symbolic picture of David’s victory after the battle, where the loser lies prostrate under the winner’s foot – parallel in meaning to the second half of v.40. And even those who could “rise up” are subdued by God!
Then in v.43, the enemy is pictured as fleeing before David “like dust in the wind” or being disposed-of like you’d scrape mud off your shoes before entering your house. David did not experience victory merely by sitting on his throne, eating chocolates and saying, “I don’t have to fight because God will protect us.” No, David fought hard for victory, and, as he fought, God delivered him from all his enemies. He stands as an example to us to actively engage in fighting evil, whether it is for the national defense, conquering a besetting sin in your heart, resisting lies from Satan, or righting wrongs done by others under your jurisdiction.
God has called some of you to apply this literally as soldiers. Is war God’s will for you? Is God with you? Then you too can advance against a troop with confidence; you too can go further than anyone might think possible and win victory in your mission and give all the glory to God. So, purposefully draw from God’s power & God’s word every day!
For all of us, including the soldiers, we also have spiritual enemies which we must engage: Anger, Covetousness, Lust, Pride, Dishonesty, Anxiety...
Draw on God’s gift of integrity.
Don’t stop fighting that evil in your heart until you have totally annihilated that sin.
Are there systems of sin which are holding people in bondage that you can attack? Legalized murder, human trafficking, pornography, government corruption, domestic violence, religious or ethnic persecution, or even just your children or employees being mean to each other.
Ask God for clear marching orders. You can’t fight on every front all-at-once, but you can respond in obedience to what God causes you to notice and burdens your heart to address.
Additionally, you don’t need a special message from God to address evil that you have the authority and responsibility to confront.
If you are a parent, you’ve got to confront (not only the evil in your heart, but also) the evil you see in your home.
If you are an employer, or a military commander, or a government authority, or a church officer, God holds you responsible to address the corruption that is in your jurisdiction. That’s where you should engage the spiritual war.
And, by the way, are you clear on who the enemy is?
It’s not your brothers and sisters in the church; it’s not the pastor or the elders,
it’s not the people who vote for Democrats (or Republicans),
it’s not the people who speak a different language or dress differently;
it’s not the people that are wallowing in disgusting sin!
Our enemy is Satan and Sin – “everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 10:5).
And, finally, remember where your safe place is!
“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.” ~Matthew Henry, 1714.
Where is your safe place? It’s the word of God. It’s Jesus. “He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.” He is the only one who can save you, and His refuge is sure.
Another way of looking at this Psalm is to see David speaking prophetically of the Messiah after him. At this second level of meaning, we see Jesus as the mighty conqueror of “all His (and our) enemies,” who is actively fighting to expand His kingdom, who will not turn back until the “last enemy” – death – is destroyed, and who is the one to whom “every knee will bow.”
1 Cor. 15:24-27 “in the end... He [the Son of God] will have put out of commission all rule and all authority and power. For it is necessary for Him to reign until whenever He has put all His enemies beneath His feet. Death, the last enemy, is being put out of commission, for ‘He has brought all things under submission beneath His feet.’” (NAW)
Revelation 19:11-20:3 “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war... Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS... the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him… were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse… He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him... and cast him into the bottomless pit…” (NKJV)
A. I was saved because:
God intervened when I prayed (vs. 1-18)
God delighted in me being in the right (vs. 21-27)
God enabled me to fight (vs. 28-42)
B. I was saved for good reasons: (vs. 43-50)
I have been called to be a king
I am saved to sing His praises among the nations
Next time I need deliverance I will trust Him
PSALM17 LXX |
2Sam22 LXX |
Brenton (Vaticanus) |
Douay
|
KJV |
NAW |
2SAM22 MT |
PSALM 18 MT |
27 ὅτι
σὺ
|
28 καὶ τὸν λαὸν τὸν πτωχὸν σώσεις καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς X ἐπὶ μετεώρων ταπεινώσεις. |
28 And thou wilt save the
poor people, and wilt
bring down |
28 And the poor people thou wilt save: and [with] thy eyes thou shalt humble X the haughty. |
28 And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, [that] thou mayest bring them down. |
28 {For You} Yourself will cause to save a lowly people. Your eyes are also upon the haughty; You will bring them low. |
כח וְאֶתB עַם עָנִי תּוֹשִׁיעַ וְעֵינֶיךָC עַל רָמִים תַּשְׁפִּיל. |
כח כִּי אַתָּה עַם עָנִי תוֹשִׁיעַ וְעֵינַיִםX X רָמוֹת תַּשְׁפִּיל. |
28
ὅτι
σὺ
φωτιεῖς
λύχνον
μου,
κύριε·
X
ὁ
θεός
μου,
φωτι |
29
ὅτι σὺ
ὁ λύχνος μου,
κύριε, καὶ κύριος
|
29
For thou, Lord, art my lamp, and the Lord shall
shine
|
29
For thou art my lamp O Lord: and D |
29 For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness. |
29 For You Yourself are my lamp, Yahweh. Indeed, it is Yahweh who causes my darkness to glimmer. |
כט כִּי אַתָּה תָּאִיר נֵרִי יְהוָה xאֱלֹהַי יַגִּיהַּ חָשְׁכִּי. |
|
29
ὅτι
ἐν
σοὶ
ῥυσ |
30 ὅτι ἐν σοὶ δραμοῦμαι μονόζωνος [καὶ] ἐν τῷ θεῷ μου ὑπερβήσομαι τεῖχος. |
30 For by thee shall I run as a girded man, [andF] by my God shall I leap over a wall. |
30 For in thee I will run girded: in my God I will leap over the wall. |
30
For by thee I |
30 For with You I will rush a battalion; with my God I will jump a parapet. |
ל כִּי בְךָ אָרֻץ גְּדוּד וּבֵאלֹהַי אֲדַלֶּג שׁוּר. |
|
30ὁ
θεός
|
31 ὁ ἰσχυρός, ἄμωμος ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτοῦ, τὸ ῥῆμα κυρίου [κραταιόν], πεπυρωμένον, ὑπερασπιστής ἐστιν πᾶσιν τοῖς πεποιθόσιν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ. |
31 As for the Mighty One, his way is blameless: the word of the Lord is [strong and] tried in the fire: he is a protectorH to all that put their trust in him. |
31 God, his way is immaculate, the word of the Lord is tried by fire: he is the shield of all that trust in him. |
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. |
31 This God has integrity in His manner; the speech of Yahweh is pure. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him. |
לא הָאֵל תָּמִים דַּרְכּוֹ אִמְרַת יְהוָה צְרוּפָה מָגֵן הוּא לְכֹלI הַחֹסִים בּוֹ. |
לא הָאֵל תָּמִים דַּרְכּוֹ אִמְרַת יְהוָה צְרוּפָה מָגֵןJ הוּא לְכֹל הַחֹסִים בּוֹ. |
31
ὅτι
τίς
θεὸς
πλὴν
τοῦ
κυρίου;
καὶ
τίς
|
32
τίς
ἰσχυρὸς
πλὴν
κυρίου; καὶ
τίς |
32
Who is strong,
but
the Lord? and who will be a |
32
Who is God but
the Lord: and who is |
32 For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God? |
32 Because who is God apart from Yahweh alone? And who is a landmark-rock apart from our God alone? |
לב כִּי מִי אֵל מִבַּלְעֲדֵי יְהוָהK וּמִי צוּר מִבַּלְעֲדֵי אֱלֹהֵינוּ. |
לב כִּי מִי אֱלוֹהַּ מִבַּלְעֲדֵי יְהוָה וּמִי צוּרL זוּלָתִי אֱלֹהֵינוּ. |
32
ὁ
θεὸς
ὁ
περιζωννύων
με
δύναμιν
καὶ
|
33
ὁ ἰσχυρὸς
ὁ
κραται |
33
It is the Mighty
One
who
|
33
God who
hath
|
33
God is
my
strength
and
power:
and he |
33 This God is the One who {equips} me with resource[s] and unleashes the integrity of {my} way, |
לג הָאֵל הַמְאַזְּרֵנִי חָיִל וַיִּתֵּן תָּמִים דַּרְכִּי. |
|
33 ὁ καταρτιζόμενος τοὺς πόδας μου ὡς ἐλάφου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλὰ X ἱστῶν με, |
34 τιθεὶς τοὺς πόδας μου ὡς ἐλάφων καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ὕψη X ἱστῶν με· |
34
He makes my feet like hart's [feet],
and sets
me
upon |
34 Making my feet like the [feet] of harts, and setting me upon my high places. |
34 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places. |
34 who makes my feet like those of deer such that He causes me to stand upon my high places, |
לד
מְשַׁוֶּה
רַגְלָיוO
כָּאַיָּלוֹת
|
לד מְשַׁוֶּה רַגְלַי כָּאַיָּלוֹת וְעַל בָּמֹתַי יַעֲמִידֵנִי. |
34
διδάσκων
χεῖράς
μου
εἰς
πόλεμον
καὶ
|
35
διδάσκων
χεῖράς μου
εἰς πόλεμον
καὶ κατάξας
τόξον χαλκοῦν
[ἐν]
βραχίον |
35 He teaches my hands to war, and has broken a brazen bow by my armX. |
35
He teacheth my hands to war: and |
35
He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of |
35 the One who trains my hands for the battle, such that a bow of bronze flexes in my arms. |
לה מְלַמֵּד יָדַי לַמִּלְחָמָה וְנִחַתS קֶשֶׁת נְחוּשָׁה זְרֹעֹתָי. |
לה מְלַמֵּד יָדַי לַמִּלְחָמָה וְנִחֲתָה קֶשֶׁת נְחוּשָׁה זְרוֹעֹתָי. |
35
καὶ
ἔδωκάς
μοι
ὑπερασπισμὸν
σωτηρίας
|
36
καὶ
ἔδωκάς μοι
ὑπερασπισμὸν
σωτηρίας
|
36
And thou hast given me the shield of |
36
X
Thou
hast given me the shield of |
36 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great. |
36 You also gave me the shield of Your salvation, and it is Your lowliness that made me great. |
לו וַתִּתֶּן לִי מָגֵן יִשְׁעֶךָ וִימִינְךָ תִסְעָדֵנִי וְעַנְוַתְךָ תַרְבֵּנִי. |
|
36
X
ἐπλάτυνας
X
τὰ
διαβήματά
μου
ὑποκάτω
μου,
καὶ
οὐκ
ἠσθένησαν
|
37 [εἰς] πλατυσμὸν [εἰς] τὰ διαβήματά μου ὑποκάτω μου, καὶ οὐκ ἐσαλεύθησαν τὰ σκέλη μου. |
37
|
37
Thou shalt
enlarge
my step[s]
under me: and my ankles shall
not |
37
Thou hast
enlarged
my step[s]
under me; so that my |
37 You lengthen my stride under me, and my ankles do not sprain. |
לז תַּרְחִיב צַעֲדִי תַּחְתֵּנִיW וְלֹא מָעֲדוּ קַרְסֻלָּיX. |
לז תַּרְחִיב צַעֲדִי תַחְתָּי וְלֹא מָעֲדוּ קַרְסֻלָּי. |
37 καταδιώξω τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου καὶ καταλήμψομαι αὐτοὺς καὶ οὐκ ἀποστραφήσομαι, ἕως ἂν ἐκλίπωσιν· |
38 διώξω ἐχθρούς μου καὶ ἀφανιῶ αὐτοὺς καὶ οὐκ ἀναστρέψω, ἕως συντελέσω αὐτούς· |
38 I will pursue my enemies, and will utterly destroy them; and I will not turn again till I have consumed them. |
38 I will pursue after my enemies, and crush them: and will not return again till I consume them. |
38 I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them. |
38 I hunted down my enemies and destroyed them. Indeed I did not turn back until their defeat. |
לח אֶרְדְּפָהY אֹיְבַי וָאַשְׁמִידֵםZ וְלֹא אָשׁוּב עַד כַּלּוֹתָםAA. |
לח
אֶרְדּוֹף
אוֹיְבַי
|
38
X
X
X X
ἐκθλίψω
αὐτούς,
καὶ
οὐ
μὴ
δύνωνται
Xστῆναι,
|
39 X X X καὶ θλάσω αὐτούς, καὶ οὐκ ἀναστήσονται καὶ πεσοῦνται ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας μου. |
39 X X X X And I will crush them, and they shall not rise; and they shall fall under my feet. |
39 X I will consume them and break them in pieces, so that they shall not rise: X they shall fall under my feet. |
39 And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they [couldAB] not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet. |
39 {} I blasted a hole through them, so that they {could} not rise up again; they will lie-fallen under my feet. |
לט ACוָאֲכַלֵּם ADוָאֶמְחָצֵם וְלֹא יְקוּמוּן וַיִּפְּלוּ תַּחַת רַגְלָי. |
לט xxx xאֶמְחָצֵם וְלֹא יֻכְלוּ קוּם xיִפְּלוּ תַּחַת רַגְלָי. |
39
καὶ
περιέζωσάς
με
δύναμιν
εἰς
πόλεμον,
συνεπόδισας
|
40 καὶ ἐνισχύσειςAE με δυνάμει εἰς πόλεμον, κάμψεις τοὺς ἐπανιστανομένους μοι ὑποκάτω μου· |
40 And thou shalt strengthen me with power for the war; thou shalt cause them that rise up against me to bow down under me. |
40 Thou hast girded me with strength to battle: thou hast made them that resisted me to bow under me. |
40 For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me. |
40 So You really equipped me with resource[s] for the battle; You caused those who rose up against me to kneel under me. |
מ וַתַּזְרֵנִי חַיִל לַמִּלְחָמָה תַּכְרִיעַAF קָמַי תַּחְתֵּנִי. |
מ וַתְּאַזְּרֵנִיAG חַיִל לַמִּלְחָמָה תַּכְרִיעַ קָמַי תַּחְתָּי. |
40
καὶ
τοὺς
ἐχθρούς
μου
ἔδωκάς
μοι
νῶτον
καὶ
τοὺς
μισοῦντάς
με
X
ἐξωλέθρευσ |
41
καὶ
τοὺς ἐχθρούς
μου ἔδωκάς
μοι νῶτον, τοὺς
μισοῦντάς με,
καὶ ἐθανάτωσ |
41
And thou hast |
41
X
My
enemies thou hast |
41 Thou hast also given me the neck[s] of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. |
41 And as for my enemies You gave to me [their bowed] neck, and as for those who hated me, I annihilated them. |
מא וְאֹיְבַי תַּתָּה לִּי עֹרֶףAH מְשַׂנְאַי AIוָאַצְמִיתֵם. |
|
41 ἐκέκραξαν, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ σῴζων, πρὸς κύριον, καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσεν αὐτῶν. |
42
|
42
They shall |
42
They shall |
42 They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. |
42 They {hollered}, but there was no savior – to Yahweh, but He did not answer them. |
מב יְשַׁוְּעוּ וְאֵין מוֹשִׁיעַ עַל יְהוָה וְלֹא עָנָם. |
|
42 καὶ λεπτυνῶ αὐτοὺς ὡς χοῦν κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀνέμου, ὡς πηλὸν πλατειῶν λεανῶ αὐτούς. |
43
καὶ
ἐλέανα
αὐτοὺς ὡς X
χοῦν
|
43 And I ground them as the dust of the earth, I beat them small as [the] mire of the streets X X. |
43 X I shall beat them as [small as] the dust of the earth: I shall crush them [andAL] spread them abroad like [the] mire of the streets. |
43 Then did I beat them as [small as] the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as [the] mire of the streetX, and did spread them abroad. |
43 So I pulverized them like the dust on the ground; like mud on the streets I crushed them {}. |
מג וְאֶשְׁחָקֵם כַּעֲפַר אָרֶץAM כְּטִיט חוּצוֹת אֲדִקֵּםAN AOאֶרְקָעֵם. |
מג וְאֶשְׁחָקֵם כְּעָפָר עַל פְּנֵי רוּחַ כְּטִיט חוּצוֹת אֲרִיקֵם X. |
1See Deut. 11:22 & Josh. 22:5 which define by parallelism God’s ways as God’s commands, the foremost of which is to love God.
2Matthew Henry commented that it denoted “both safety and dignity.” Keil & Delitzsch commented that it meant the places from which David ruled as king. Still others have suggested that they are the “high places” where gods were worshiped (Deut. 33:29, 1 Sam. 9 & 10), but that seems unlikely to me because of the pronoun “my” (instead of “God’s”) and because of the action of “standing” (rather than “bowing in worship”).
AMy
original chart includes the NASB, NIV, and ESV, but their copyright
restrictions have forced me to remove them from the
publicly-available edition of this chart. (NAW is my translation.)
When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I
put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a
wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in
my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the
Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original
text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a
word which is in the original text, I insert an X. (I also place an
X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the
English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help
the reader see correlations between the various editions and
versions when there are more than two different translations of a
given word. The only known Dead Sea Scrolls containing 2 Samuel 22
are 4Q51 Samuela (containing parts of verses 16-50 and
dated between 50-25 BC). Where the DSS is legible and in agreement
with the MT, the MT is colored purple.
Where the DSS supports the LXX (or Vulgate) with omissions or text
not in the MT, I have highlighted
with yellow the LXX
and its translation into English, and where I have accepted that
into my NAW translation, I have marked it with {pointed
brackets}.
In the parallel Greek and Hebrew readings from Psalm
18, I have colored orange the words
which are spelled differently and colored grey
the words that are not in the 2 Samuel text. In most cases, the
orange words are synonyms for the words in the 2 Sam. 22 text.
BDSS is obliterated here, but it has too much space for the MT reading, yet just enough extra space for the Psalm 18 reading of the MT (“and you yourself”).
CSyriac & LXX omit the “your” (like it is omitted in the Psalm), but it is in the LXX, Vulgate, & Targums of 2 Sam. 22. cf. Prov. 6:16-17 “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look…” (KJV)
DThe Greek Lucian Rescription also reads “you” instead of “He.”
EPsalm 18 (followed by the Syriac) reads “you light my lamp” instead of “you are my lamp.” Targums insert “of Israel” instead of “my,” and the DSS is obliterated but has way too much space for the MT text - enough space to insert the extra verb from Psalm 18 (“lights”), the extra prepositional phrase from the LXX (“to me”) and more.
FSyriac also adds an “and” here, but not Targums or Vulgate.
GThe Hebrew word shur seems to involve the concepts of “traveling around” and “looking around,” which are exactly the meaning of a parapet – a place you can walk around to look out. Since a Qal form exists for the following verb, its Piel spelling indicates an intense form of leaping.
HThe implication of this Greek word, according to Liddel & Scott’s lexicon, is that he protects you by holding a shield over you.
IRepeated in Prov. 30:5
Jcf. the same portable shield in v.2 and v. 35
KIf there be any doubt as to the answer of that question, Isaiah 43:11; 44:6,8; and 45:6,21 answer emphatically “there is none!”
Lcf. same word in v.2 & v.46
MInstead of the noun in the MT, the DSS reads with the Piel participle “equipping/arming me” מאזרני as do the Syriac, Vulgate, Greek Lucian Rescription, and Psalm 18. Tsumura (NICOT) was in favor of interpreting it as the Piel participle “one who strengthens.”
NPsalm 18, the Qere of this verse, and the LXX, Syriac, Targums, and Vulgate all read “my” instead of “his.” Both would be true, however.
OMT of 2 Sa. 22 reads “his feet,” but the MT of Ps. 18 reads “my feet.” The Qere of 2 Sa. 22 רַגְלַי supports “my feet.”
PThere is no previous use of this phrase “my high places,” but the one use of it afterward makes it clear that David’s psalm inspired Habakkuk, for it is his capstone quote in the final verse of his book 3:19 “The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places.” (NASB)
QThe Syriac reads like the Vulgate.
RSteel had been invented by then, and may be referred to as the “iron of the north” (i.e. the iron of the Hittites, who were combining carbon and iron at the time) in Jer. 15:12, which, according to that verse, was harder than regular iron. But NIV, ESV, and NKJV do not follow the KJV in sometimes translating this Hebrew word nehushah as “brass/bronze” and sometimes as “steel.” The NASB & RV only translate one Hebrew word as “steel,” the hapex legomenon peledah in Nah. 2:3, but that word is translated “fire,” “torches,” or “metal” by all the other English versions.
SThe verb here is singular so the subject can’t be “my arms” (plural); the subject must be the feminine singular “bow” or the masculine singular “God.” Lexicographers disagree over whether the gender of this verb is masculine (Beal/Banks, Davidson, OSHB Morphology) or feminine (Groves-Wheeler Westminster Morphology). K&D commented, “נִחַת... on account of the feminine זְרֹועֹתַי, is not the Niphal of חָתַת, to be broken in pieces, but the Piel of נָחַת, to cause to go down, to press down the bow, i.e., to set it.”
TActually, the Vulgate reads mea (“my”), and Douay must have corrected Jerome’s error.
UCuriously, the LXX and Vulgate read “my salvation” instead of “your salvation” like the DSS, MT, Syriac, and most Targums do. Both are true, however.
VDSS instead ועזרתך (“your helps”), but all the other manuscripts and versions support a different reading: LXX = “obedience,” Lucian Rescription of 2 Sam 22 (and LXX of Psalm 18) = “training,” Syriac = מרדות (“gentleness”), Targums = במֵימְרָ (“speech”), Vulgate = mansuetudo (“gentleness”), K&D = “hearkening”
WDSS omits “under me,” but it is in all the ancient versions.
XHapex Legomenon only found in this Psalm.
YK&D commented, “The optative form אֶרְדְּפָה serves to make the future signification of אֶרְדֹּף (in the psalm) the more apparent.” Clearly there are differences of opinion over what parts of this psalm to interpret in the past and what parts to interpret in the future. I believe that v.1 should be a governing principle that the victories referred to in this psalm are in the past, although David speaks with faith in God for future victories.
ZPsalm 18 reads with two letters different, rendering “overtake.”
AAThe Hebrew infinitive form here has no subject, so it allows for a wide range of interpretation from “I defeated” (which the Syriac, Septuagint, and Vulgate used), to “they were defeated” to the substantive “their defeat.”
ABThis word is not in the MT or LXX of 2 Sam. 22, but is in the MT and LXX of the parallel Psalm 18, and it is in the Syriac and Targums of 2 Sam. 22.
ACSyriac, and LXX, as well as the MT of Psalm 18 all omit this first verb along with the conjunction prefixing the second verb. DSS matches, at least in starting the verse with the second verb in the MT without the vav, but the rest of the verse is obliterated in the DSS. If the DSS were to read like the LXX and Syriac, it would make for a line of text shorter than any other line in that DSS manuscript, but if, on the other hand, the DSS happened to switch the order of the verbs and include “I consumed them” after “I blasted a hole in them” there would be room on the line, but it would be an unusually long line. It seems therefore, that the DSS spacing supports the addition of the helping verb “could” found in the Syriac and Targums of this verse as well as in the MT of Psalm 18.
ADThe action is that of an arrow in Num. 24:8, of God’s punitive action against the loins of Levi’s enemies in Deut. 33:11, of Jael’s tent-peg in Judges 5:26, of a foot in blood in Psalm 68:23, and of God laying His enemy open “from thigh to neck” in Hab. 3:13.
AELXX seems to read as though the Hebrew word were עזז instead of אזר.
AFLiterally “cause to bend over,” in answer to the prayer in 17:13 “Please arise, Yahweh; please get in front of his face; bend him over...” and a foreshadowing of the Messianic triumph in Isa. 45:23b “to me every knee will bow; every tongue will swear.” DSS and Syriac add a vav prefix.
AG“וַתַּזְרֵנִי for וַתְּאַזְּרֵנִי in the psalm is not a poetical Syriasm, and still less a “careless solecism” (Hupfeld), but a simple contraction” ~K&D Tsumura (NICOT) agreed, calling it “internal vowel sandhi.”
AHLit. “nape [of the neck]” In the first Biblical instance of this word (Gen. 49:8), it is in parallel with bowing down, which bends the neck and exposes the nape to the superior person in submission. I see no use of this word which demands the interpretation of turning one’s back in flight instead of bowing one’s neck, although the Biblical accounts seem to see the former leading inevitably to the latter, and thus some passages could be interpreted either way without harm. In favor of the interpretation of natan oreph as bowing would be the concept of a “stiff-necked” people (Ex. 32:9, 2Chr. 36:13, etc.) who rebelliously refuse bend their neck in a submissive bow. In 2 Chron 29:6 the parallelism requires the interpretation of giving the neck as turning your back in rebellion, another view of the nape of the neck, but with a totally different meaning than that of admission of defeat and submission.
AIDSS seems to omit the vav prefix here, as does the Syriac. The LXX curiously changes the 1st person to 2nd person.
AJThis spelling variant is just a matter of whether or not the first letter of the word should disappear due to its “weakness,” not a matter of a different stem or tense.
AKTsumura suggested that the verb root could be neither “looked” (שיה) nor “cried” (שוי) but rather biconsonantal derivative of “saved” (יש). But the consonantal text before Masoretic pointing could support either “they looked” or “they cried for help,” and, since the spelling of Psalm 18 indicates “cried,” and since the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate all understood it as “cried,” I think we should do the same.
ALThis “and” is not in the Vulgate; it was supplied for the English translation.
AMVulgate, LXX and Targums support the MT here (cf. other uses of “dust of the earth” in Amos 2:7 & Job 14:19), but Syriac and DSS follow the MT of Psalm 18 פְּנֵי רוּחַ “upon the face of the wind” (The DSS פני ארח appears to be a misspelling “upon the face of the length”), but the differences in prepositions and object do not destroy the general idea of scattering.
ANPsalm 18 changes one letter to a very similar-looking letter to get “I emptied them.”
AOThe DSS, Syriac, and LXX follow the MT of Psalm 18 with only one verb instead of two here. The second verb in the MT is a synonym, so no meaning is lost by omitting it, and omitting it would fix the bad grammar of there being no conjunction before it. None of the ancient versions or manuscripts contain a conjunction here, so all the English versions that kept both verbs had to insert a conjunction to make the sentence make sense.