Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 15 Jan.
2023
(Parallel psalm preached 8 Feb. 2015)
I spent the last three sermons with a backward look at “why we are saved.” We can look back into the past and say, “I was saved because God did what it took to save me. I participated in that salvation by calling for Him to save me, by walking in His righteousness, and by fighting against evil.”
Now, around verse 44, I see David’s perspective shifting forward to the future. There is the recognition that David was saved for a good reason. God saved him because God had things He still wanted David to do. Some of those things are highlighted in this Psalm:
David was saved by God in order to rule as king of Israel.
David was also saved by God in order to write the book of Psalms and sing praise to God among the nations.
And David was saved by God in order to trust in the Messiah for the rest of eternity.
Let’s look at these three reasons David was saved, and see how they apply to us too:
In answer to the prayer in Psalm 17:13, “[D]eliver my soul from the wicked,” God showed Himself to be a “deliverer,” and this whole chapter in 2 Sam. 22 – from v.1 on – is about God’s deliverance.
In v.44, David mentions a “people” that was “accusing/attacking/contending with” him – and with whom there was “strife.” Who was this “people”? It was his nation, the Jews1.
Notice the word “my,” in the phrase “my people;” for David “my people” was the Jews. For you it might be family members or co-workers.
The most frequent meaning of the word “strife/contention” in the Pentateuch is the meaning of a legal accusation which is tried in court.
The word occurs at three points in the Biblical history of David:
In 1 Samuel 24:15, when King Saul sent the army to kill David for treason, and David appealed to God to judge the case, believing he was innocent of Saul’s accusations2.
In 1 Sam. 25:39, when Nabal accused David of being a “worthless… rebel,” and then Nabal died of a heart attack. David praised God for deciding justice in favor of his innocence, “...Blessed be Yahweh, who contended for my case against my being treated shamefully by the agency of Nabal…” (NAW)
And finally, in 2 Sam. 15:2ff, when Absalom tried to take the throne from David. Absalom had corrupted David’s court system3, then tried to assassinate his father in open war to seize David’s throne, but God humiliated Absalom in death and exonerated David.
And just as God delivered David in these cases of internecine strife, God also delivered David’s “greater son,” Jesus, from the false accusations of the Jews about a thousand years later by raising Jesus from the dead after they had crucified Him unjustly for blasphemy. And He will deliver you when people unjustly accuse you and try to get you in trouble.
But that deliverance is not the end in itself. For David and for Jesus, the deliverance was only the first step in God’s plan of placing them into leadership, a leadership not only of the Jewish people, but ultimately of all the peoples of the world.
Verse 44 speaks of “headship” over “goyim/heathen/nations,” at least one of which, it says, was previously “unknown.”
Verse 45 speaks of prompt “obedience” from “foreigners” that gets to the level of being “obsequious” in their displays of “cringing” submission to the king.
And verse 46 has some rare Hebrew words, so it’s hard to pin down the precise meaning, but the general sense is clear, that these “foreigners” are losing confidence in what they trusted before, growing “nervous,” and making the jump of allegiance to God’s king.
This is exactly what we read in the history of David in 2 Samuel 8:1-12 “After this, it came about that David made a strike against the Philistines and made them vassals. David also took Meteg-Ha-Ammah from the control of the Philistines. And he made a strike against Moab, and he measured them with the measuring-string after having made them lie down on the ground... and those Moab{ites} became servants who raised tribute to David... Then David placed garrisons in Damascus Syria, so Syria belonged to David to be his servants who raised tribute… Also, from Hadadezer's cities of Betach and from Berothai, David the King took {a} very large amount of bronze. Now, when {Tow} King of Hamath heard that David had struck down all the army of Hadadezer, {Tow} sent Joram his son to David the King to petition him for peace and to bless him... and in his hand were articles of silver and articles of gold and... bronze. These also David the King consecrated to Yahweh along with the silver and the gold which he consecrated from all the nations over which he had taken dominion: from {Edom} and from Moab and from the descendants of Ammon and from the Philistines and from the Amalekites, and from the plunder of Hadadezer son of Rekhob King of Tsobah.” NAW
Just for the record, David’s subjugation of foreigners wasn’t necessarily mean. It was the practice of some ancient kings to take the sons of the noblemen of conquered countries and raise them in the palace of the conqueror (for instance, Daniel in Babylon). That way the next generation would learn the culture and values of the conqueror and become trusted partners in the government and solidify the conqueror’s hold on the annexed nation. I think that David did something like that with Nahash’s brother after conquering the Ammonites (2 Sa. 17:27).
And God Himself does this: takes foreigners, teaches them His ways, and then gives them freedom to be leaders in His kingdom, as was prophecied in Isaiah 56:6-7 “And the sons of the foreigner, those joined upon Yahweh to minister to Him and to love the name of Yahweh, to belong to Him as servants... I will cause them to go to my holy mountain, and I will make them joyful in my house of prayer.” (NAW)4 So this psalm also prophecies the coming world dominion of Jesus, the kingly descendant of David.
We see Jesus’ fulfillment of these prophecies in places like Phil. 2:10 where, “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow,” and Rev. 7:9-11, where “...a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, [was] standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God... they serve (λατρεύσουσιν) Him day and night in His temple...” (NASB, cf. Col. 3:24)
David was saved to fulfill the role of king. Did you know that when God saved you, He also had a role in mind for you to fulfill in His kingdom? It probably wasn’t to be a literal king, but He still gives you a dominion over which to exercise leadership. Rev. 1:6 says that He has made us to be kings: “Jesus Christ… made us kings and priests to His God and Father”
It may be in your home, exercising leadership over siblings as a big brother or sister and making your bedroom and your backyard a place of order and joy and learning.
It may be exercising leadership as a parent and creating Biblical culture and fruitful commerce and Gospel confidence in your household.
It may be in a business, or in a company of soldiers, or in an office of civil government,
but ever since God gave the dominion mandate in Genesis 1:28 to mankind to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and exercise dominion,” God’s people have had a God-given “kingdom” (as it were) over which to exercise dominion.
Even if it’s nothing physically bigger than a web “domain” on a computer hard drive, God has saved you for a purpose to fulfill a role of dominion in His kingdom!
Now, David was not only saved to serve as king, he was also...
Our love for God should express a priority of relationship with Him above all other relationships, and this leads to feelings, actions and words which demonstrate how fondly we prioritize our good relationship with God. In David’s life it spilled out in his poetry.
In verse 47, David says that the LORD equals life.
I stuck my neck out a little bit to translate it “Life is Yahweh,” rather than “Yahweh lives.” The Hebrew words themselves can be accurately translated either way, as the Hebrew word here could be a noun “life” or a verb “he lives.”
I think David is stating something more profound5 than simply the fact that our God is alive and is not an inanimate object like so many other gods are. I think David is stating something along the lines of what Jesus said of Himself when He said, “I am the way the truth, and the life...” (John 14:6).
Jesus/Yahweh is where life is to be found. The Lord gives us both life and meaning to life. Can you say that is true in your experience – that He is your life, and He is the meaning to your life?
“Life is Jesus.” These are words of high praise. Sincere “praise” is a “sacrifice” which God says is “well-pleasing” to Him in Hebrews 13:15-16. He made us and saved us in order that we might praise Him.
Another way that David praises the LORD is to equate Yahweh with a certain kind of “rock” which offers him signal protection.
He opens the psalm with the declaration in verses 2 and 3 that “the LORD… God is” this kind of “rock” that he trusts-in,
and then, at the chiastic center of the Psalm, where the main point is often deposited in Hebrew poetry, David repeats this truth as a rhetorical question: v.32 “...who could be such a rock except for our God?”
Now at the close of this psalm, he “blesses” God for being his “rock” of stability, orientation, and safety.
The Hebrew word for “retribution/vengeance” in v.48 is a reminder of two distinct periods of David’s life where God provided salvation:
First regards the mission which God had given to the people of Israel to wipe out the Canaanite nations who were so perverted in their sin that there was no remedy but to wipe them out.
The Hebrew word for “retribution/vengeance” is found in Num. 31, at the beginning of that mission under Moses’ leadership in the campaign against Midian.
Then Joshua and the Judges6 continued that mission.
Then finally, David took up the tail-end of that mission in his campaigns against the Philistines, Jebusites, Ammonites, and other peoples who were “subdued” under him.
But when it came to issues of personal injustice, David did not take revenge; he left that up to God. The phrase “the God who avenges me” had a poignant history behind it.
David spent years enduring King Saul’s injustices, not avenging himself but waiting on God to avenge him.
The same Hebrew word for “retribution/vengeance” occurs in 2 Samuel 4:8 when, after King Saul’s death, some zealous followers of David murdered Saul’s son Ishbosheth so that he would not be able to compete with David for the throne. David had the assassins killed and said, “That’s not how I operate. I will wait upon God to take revenge for me; I will not take vengeance for myself.”
It took real, patient faith to trust God to arrange justice in the end. But David’s faith was rewarded.
When we tell stories, like David did, of occasions when we trusted God and God came through for us, that is a powerful way to praise God and exalt Him in the eyes of other people. What stories can you tell of God’s deliverance when you trusted Him?
V.49 pictures getting up to a high place to get away from a violent man who was out to get David.
This raises images in my mind of David escaping from the irrational violence of Saul earlier in his life by climbing up into caves in the mountains of Judea.
Men and women of God have always been pursued by the violent, and God is ever the God of our rescue,
whether it be Moses, drawn out of the Nile and saved from Pharoah’s infanticide program,
or Jesus expatriated to Egypt to escape Herod’s slaughter of the babies of Bethlehem,
or modern Christian missionaries rescued from deadly foes and diseases,
or you rescued from the grip of some sin which could have destroyed you.
As the book of Revelation pictures it, Satan, the dragon, is out to destroy the church. The church is pictured as a woman in Rev. 12:4 “...And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.” (NASB)
There are many real, physical and spiritual “men of violence,” and we must depend upon Jesus our Lord to deliver us from them. And when He does, then we can tell others how Jesus saved us.
The “therefore,” which begins v.50, gives the bottom line. In light of the deliverances God has provided, it is our business to praise, thank, and sing praises to Him – even to compose hymns to Him, which is exactly what David is doing here.7
David’s voice shouts to us across 3,000 years of history, “Will you join with me in blessing this God who saved me? Will you exalt this God? Will you lift up your voice when you sing about Him? Will you be reverent with the use of His name? Will you talk-up how important He is?” Let the God of [David’s salvation – and] my salvation – be exalted!
“Making music” is a clear application of this verse (and of many others throughout the Bible):
Psalm 7:17 “I will respond to Yahweh according to His righteousness, and I will play music about the name of Yahweh the Most High.”
Psalm 9:1-3 “I will respond to Yahweh with all my heart; I will recount all of Your wonders. I will be happy and exuberant in You. I will play music about Your preeminent Name while my enemies turn back. They will stumble and perish before Your face… 11 Play music for Yahweh (the One who inhabits Zion). Declare among the peoples His exploits…”
Psalm 27:6 “And now my head will be lifted up over my enemies around me, and I will sacrifice there at His tent sacrifices of applause. I will sing there and I will play music there to Yahweh!”
Ps. 33:2 “Y'all, respond to Yahweh with a guitar; with a ten-string harp make music to Him!” (NAW)
Ps. 66:4 “All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.” (KJV)
This worship singing is not merely to be done in the privacy of our own quiet times, or just in the comfortable context of the church, but also throughout the world - “with/among the nations.”
“The grace which the Lord had shown to David was so great, that the praise thereof could not be restricted to the narrow limits of Israel.” ~Keil & Deltzsch
In fact, Romans 15:9, quotes this very verse: “Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles[/nations] might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: "FOR THIS REASON I WILL CONFESS TO YOU AMONG THE GENTILES, AND SING TO YOUR NAME." (NKJV)
David expounded on this in 1 Chronicles 16:23-31 “Sing to the LORD, all the earth; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He also is to be feared above all gods.... Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns.’” (NASB)
How do we do that? How can we “respond with thanksgiving/praise among/with the nations”?
Short-term (or long-term) mission trips enable us to physically get out among the nations,
Building friendships with local International Students and immigrants is another way to be among other ethnicities without even leaving town!
Websites and other social media pages enable us to communicate over vast distances to other ethnicities – at least to those who can read English.
And for those who can’t read English, we can invest in the translation of the Bible and of good Christian literature.
Even in day-to-day life, simply being reverent with the names of God is a testimony to who He is,
as is sharing pieces of your life story with acquaintances.
You could even try your hand at writing a song or writing lyrics that someone else could put music to!
So, just as David was saved to fulfill a leadership role in God’s kingdom and to sing God’s praises throughout the world, so we too are saved to exercise dominion in some role and to extend the praises of God in this world. But I see one more reason: We are...
The word for “salvation/victories/deliverance” in Hebrew is yeshu’ot, the word usually used for “salvation,” but it is plural8, indicating more than one occasion where the king has been saved by God.
I think this refers to the many ways in which God mercifully intervenes to help us,
both in the great sense of the Messiah’s crucifixion to save us from the wrath of God against our sins,
but also in all the small interventions, like when He enabled you to overcome temptations to sin, or when He healed you from a sickness, or when He provided something you needed but couldn’t get for yourself.
I’m reminded of an Amy Grant song9 from the 1980’s, “God only knows the times my life was threatened just today. A reckless car ran out of gas before it ran my way. Near misses all around me – accidents unknown. What I never see with human eye is the hands that lead me home. But I know they’re all around me, all day and through the night. When the enemy is closing in, I know sometimes they fight to keep my feet from falling – I’ll never turn away!”
The word chesed, translated “lovingkindness/mercy/steadfast love” is often found in the Bible next to the word “salvation10”
I think it emphasizes that this salvation is not earned; it is a gracious gift of God,
as Ephesians 2:8 also tells us, “It is by grace that y’all are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, so nobody can boast.”
God does these things for us simply because He is kind and merciful and loves us.
The picture that the opening of verse 51 seems to present is of God heaping up one saving action after another in the life of David, day by day, year by year, decade by decade, and David is saying, “What a list of salvations I could compile! I know this Psalm is long, but I could have made it much longer!”
And this history of God’s faithfulness points to a trend we can bank on for the future:
God will continue forever into the future to save and demonstrate His loving-kindness:
Hannah was the first in the Bible to speak of the Lord’s “anointed one.” She lived before there were kings in Israel, but she prophecied in 1 Samuel 2:10 of an Anointed One who would be king, “...Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth and give strength to His king and lift the horn of His Anointed One.”11
She taught this to her son Samuel, who was the next person in the Bible to use the phrase, “his anointed” in 1 Samuel 12:3-5, “...Yahweh is witness – and so is His Anointed one...”
and Samuel got to see the beginning of the fulfillment of his mother’s prophecy when he anointed David as king over Israel (1 Sam. 16:6).
But David was only the beginning. David prophecied of the LORD’s anointed yet-to-come12.
The singular “seed” of David, as the Apostle Paul explains in the New Testament, is Christ Jesus, Who was anointed with the Holy Spirit – the Spirit whom the oil represented all along in the Old Testament anointing ceremonies (Acts 4:27; 10:38; Heb. 1:9).
Gal. 3:16 “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘AND TO YOUR SEED,’ who is Christ.” (NKJV)
Jesus is the Messianic king who reigns forever. His reign is obscure now and not acknowledged by most people, but when He comes again, it will become obvious and universally-recognized.
But that anointing does not stop at Jesus; the Apostles taught that you too are the Lord’s “anointed”! Listen to these verses:
2 Cor. 1:21-22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (NKJV)
1 John 2:27 “And the anointing which you yourselves received from Him remains in you, and... as His anointing is teaching you concerning everything (and it is true; it is not a lie) just as it taught you, you remain in Him.” (NAW)
If you are united to Christ by faith, you have the “anointing” of the Holy Spirit! The covenantal, gracious lovingkindness of God which the anointed kings of Israel enjoyed, and which is Christ’s now, Christ freely shares with those who love Him! Not just for 4 years like our Presidents have, but forever!
Thus you can be confident that, no matter what happens in the future, you will be able to trust Jesus. No matter what threats you may encounter in the years to come, you can count on God to deliver you and to add to that long list of His saving interventions in the lives of those He loves.
You have been saved in order to continue
trusting in His future salvations.
You have been saved to sing
the praises of Christ Jesus throughout the world.
And you have
been saved to fulfill a dominion-role
in the kingdom of God.
May God grant us faithfulness to
fulfill these callings “which God prepared beforehand so that
we would walk in them” (Eph.
2:10, NASB).
Psalm 18: For What Purpose Was I Saved?
Amos Wilson February 8, 2015
My God you have delivered me,
Yet for what purpose was I saved?
– I surely don't deserve your grace,
I should slave,
Into the grave –
For what purpose, tell?
Listen, listen well.
Against the striving of my kin,
You made me head to reign supreme.
Even the tribes from lands unknown,
Will tribute bring,
To me as king –
Then for what purpose saved?
To rule o'er what You gave.
I will exalt the Lord who saved.
Life is Christ – so I will praise,
Since God destroyed and fought my foes,
To God of days,
I write my lays –
So for what purpose then?
To sing His praise to men.
For years He has delivered me,
And showed me mercy just,
To me and mine forever more,
O Lord of us,
In You I trust –
Then for what purpose, say?
To know where I must stay.
PSALM 17 LXX |
2 SAM 22 LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
2
SAM 22 |
PSALM 18 MT |
40
καὶ
τοὺς
ἐχθρούς
μου
ἔδωκάς
μοι
νῶτον
καὶ
τοὺς
μισοῦντάς
με
ἐξωλέθρευσα |
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 the bowed-neck of those who hate me, and I annihilated them. |
||
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 [andF] 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 אָרֶץG כְּטִיט חוּצוֹת אֲדִקֵּםH Iאֶרְקָעֵם. |
מג וְאֶשְׁחָקֵם כְּעָפָר עַל פְּנֵי רוּחַ כְּטִיט חוּצוֹת אֲרִיקֵם X. |
43
X
ῥύσῃ
με
ἐξ
ἀντιλογιῶν
λαοῦ,
καταστήσεις
με
εἰς
κεφαλὴν
ἐθνῶν·
λαός,
ὃν
οὐκ
ἔγνων,
ἐδούλευσ |
44
καὶ
ῥύσῃ με ἐκ μάχ |
44
And thou shalt deliver me from the strivingX
of |
44 X Thou wilt save me from the contradictions of my people: thou wilt keep me to be the head of the Gentiles: [the] people which I know not, Χ shall serve me, |
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 Χ shall serve me. |
44 You have also delivered me from the impeachments of my people. You kept me at the head of nations – [even of] an ethic-group I did not know – they serve me. |
מד וַתְּפַלְּטֵנִיJ מֵרִיבֵי עַמִּיK תִּשְׁמְרֵנִיL לְרֹאשׁ גּוֹיִם Mעַם לֹא יָדַעְתִּי יַעַבְדֻנִי. |
מד xתְּפַלְּטֵנִי מֵרִיבֵי עָםx תְּשִׂימֵxנִי לְרֹאשׁ גּוֹיִם עַם לֹא יָדַעְתִּי יַעַבְדוּנִי. |
44 εἰς ἀκοὴν ὠτίου ὑπήκουσέν μοι· υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι ἐψεύσαντό μοι, |
45 υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι ἐψεύσαντό μοι, εἰς ἀκοὴν ὠτίου ἤκουσάν μου· |
45 The strange children feigned obedience to me; they hearkened to me as soon as they heard X. |
45
The sons of the stranger will |
45 X X Stranger[s] shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear X, they shall be obedient unto me. |
45 Sons of the foreigner make themselves obsequious toward me; as soon as the sound is at-ear they become heedful toward me. |
מה Nבְּנֵי נֵכָר יִתְכַּחֲשׁוּ לִי לִשְׁמוֹעַ אֹזֶן יִשָּׁמְעוּO לִי. |
מה לְשֵׁמַע אֹזֶן יִשָּׁמְעוּ לִי בְּנֵי נֵכָר יְXכַחֲשׁוּP לִי. |
45 υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι ἐπαλαιώθησαν καὶ ἐχώλαναν ἀπὸ τῶν τρίβων αὐτῶν. |
46 υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι ἀπορριφήσονται καὶ σφαλοῦσιν ἐκ τῶν συγκλεισμῶν αὐτῶν. |
46 The strange children shall be cast away, and shall be overthrown out of their hiding places. |
46 The strangerXs are melted away, and shall be straitened in their distresses. |
46 StrangerXs shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places. |
46 Sons of the foreigner wilt, and they become jumpy from their borders. |
||
46
ζῇ
κύριος,
καὶ
εὐλογητὸς
ὁ
|
47
ζῇ κύριος,
καὶ εὐλογητὸς
ὁ |
47
The Lord lives, and blessed be my guardian,
and [my]
God |
47
The Lord liveth, and my |
47 The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. |
47 Life is Yahweh, so let my landmark-rock be blessed, and let the God of the landmark-rock of my salvation be exalted! |
מז חַי יְהוָהT וּבָרוּךְ צוּרִיU וְיָרֻם אֱלֹהֵי צוּרV יִשְׁעִי. |
מז חַי יְהוָה וּבָרוּךְ צוּרִי וְיָרוּם אֱלוֹהֵי x יִשְׁעִי. |
47
|
48
[ἰσχυρὸςW]
|
48
The |
48 X God who giveth me revenge, and bringest down peopleX under me, |
48 It is X God that X avengeth me, and that bringeth down [the] peopleX under me, |
48 This God is the One who deals out retributions for me, and who brings down peoples under me, |
מח Xהָאֵל הַנֹּתֵן נְקָמֹת לִי וּמוֹרִידY עַמִּים תַּחְתֵּנִי. |
מח הָאֵל הַנּוֹתֵן נְקָמוֹת לִי וַיַּדְבֵּרZ עַמִּים תַּחְתָּי. |
48
X
ὁ
ῥύστης
μου
ἐξ
ἐχθρῶν
μου
|
49 καὶ ἐξάγων με ἐξ ἐχθρῶν μου, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐπεγειρομένων μοι ὑψώσεις με, ἐξ ἀνδρὸς ἀδικημάτων ῥύσῃ με. |
49 and bringing me out from my enemies: and thou shalt set me on high from among those that rise up against me: thou shalt deliver me from the violentX man. |
49 X Who bringest me forth from my enemies, and liftest me up from them that resist X me: from the wickedX man thou shalt deliver 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 violentX man. |
49 and who brings me out from my enemies. You even elevate me above those who rise up against me; You cause me to escape from the man characterized by acts-of-violence. |
מט וּמוֹצִיאִיAB מֵאֹיְבָיAC וּמִקָּמַי תְּרוֹמְמֵנִי מֵאִישׁ חֲמָסִיםAD תַּצִּילֵנִיAE. |
מט
xמְפַלְּטִי
מֵאֹיְבָי
|
49 διὰ τοῦτο ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν X ἔθνεσιν, κύριε, καὶ τῷ ὀνόματί σου ψαλῶ, |
50 διὰ τοῦτο ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι, κύριε, ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν καὶ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ψαλῶ, |
50 Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name. |
50 Therefore will I give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to thy name. |
50 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. |
50 Therefore I respond to You, Yahweh, along with the nations, and I will make music about Your name. |
נ עַל כֵּן אוֹדְךָ יְהוָה בַּגּוֹיִםAF וּלְשִׁמְךָ אֲזַמֵּרAG. |
נ עַל כֵּן אוֹדְךָ בַגּוֹיִם יְהוָה וּלְשִׁמְךָ אֲזַמֵּרָה. |
50 μεγαλύνων τὰς σωτηρίας τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτοῦ καὶ ποιῶν ἔλεος τῷ χριστῷ αὐτοῦ, τῷ Δαυιδ καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ ἕως αἰῶνος. |
51 μεγαλύνων σωτηρίας βασιλέως αὐτοῦ καὶ ποιῶν ἔλεος τῷ χριστῷ αὐτοῦ, τῷ Δαυιδ καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ ἕως αἰῶνος. |
51 He magnifies the salvationX of his king, and works mercy for his anointed, even for David and for his seed for ever. |
51
Giving
great
salvationX
to his king, and |
51
He
is
the
tower
of salvationX
for his king: and |
51 He causes to increase the victories of His king, and enacts loving-kindness toward His anointed one – to David and to his seed, until forever. |
נא מַגְדִּילAH יְשׁוּעוֹת מַלְכּוֹ וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד לִמְשִׁיחוֹ לְדָוִד וּלְזַרְעוֹ עַד עוֹלָם. |
נא מַגְדִּלAI יְשׁוּעוֹת מַלְכּוֹ וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד לִמְשִׁיחוֹ לְדָוִד וּלְזַרְעוֹ עַד עוֹלָם. |
1cf. Goldman in the Soncino commentary on 2 Samuel: “...my people … the reference… must be… to that long war between the house of Saul and the house of David (iii. I) in the opening years of his rule.” (italics original) Keil & Delitzsch, on the other hand attributed it to later events in David’s reign, “the opposition of Ishbosheth and the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba,” but I think the first verse locates the time somewhat earlier than those later events.
214 {Now,} after whom are {you,} the King of Israel coming out? {And} what are you chasing after? After a dead dog {or} after one flea? 15 Yahweh therefore will become adjudicator, and he will judge between me and you, and He will see and contend for my case, and He will bring justice for me out of your hand." (NAW)
33 Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, there are good and straight-forward things about your case, but there is no one from the king who will give heed to you… Who will install me as a judge in the land, so that every man who has a dispute or an adjudication might come to me and I will make things right for him?!" (NAW)
4God also prophesied of the Messiah in Micah 7:17 that “...[Nations] will shake רגז out of their fortresses/borders ממסגרתיהם to Yahweh our God. They will be in dread פּחד and fear of Him.” NAW
5As evidence for the assertion that these are strong words, I offer that in most other instances, this Hebrew phrase is the introduction to an oath (“as the LORD lives”), although here there does not seem to be a corresponding oath-promise.
6For instance, Jepthah was one of the Judges who brought God’s “vengeance” against the Ammonites in Judges 11:36.
7“[H]e prophesieth of the passion, resurrection, ascension of Christ, of the reiection of the Iewes, and the calling of the Gentiles: as the Apostle, Rom. 15.9. alleadgeth the 49. vers. of this Psalme [18], I will praise thee among the nations, &c. to proue the vocation of the Gentiles” ~Andrew Willett
8The other instances in the O.T. of this word in the plural are Psalm 28:8; 42:5; 44:4; 74:12; 116:13.
9“Angels” from the album, Straight Ahead
10 e.g. Psalms 5:7; 6:4; 13:5; 17:7
11Tsumura, in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, suggested that David was quoting in v.51 from Hannah’s song.
12K&D: “The king whose salvation the Lord had magnified, was not David as an individual, but ‘David and his seed for ever’ - that is to say, the royal family of David which culminated in Christ.”
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 which are not in the 2 Sam. text. In most cases, the
orange words are synonyms for the words in the 2 Sam. 22 text. It is
clear that the differences between them are not the result of
accidental copy errors, but rather are a result of a purposeful
editing process. Tsumura commented that in almost every case the
Psalms edition uses standardized Hebrew spelling with full spellings
of long vowel consonants, so it was written to be read,
whereas the 2 Samuel edition would sound practically the same but
was written to be heard. The 2 Sam. 22 text seems to be the
earlier edition, and Ps. 18 the later edition.
BLit. “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 in submission to the superior person. 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, 2 Chr. 36:13, etc.), who rebelliously refuse bend their neck in a submissive bow to God, not who refuse to run away. 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.
CSyriac & DSS follow the reading of Psalm 18, which puts the “and” before “my enemies” instead of before “I annihilated,” but it doesn’t change the meaning. It is curious, however, that the LXX changes the last verb to second person in both Psalm 18 and here. No Hebrew manuscripts or other ancient versions have been brought to my attention which read 2 sg, but even so, it does not create an actual contradiction in the Bible, since David attributes his victories both to God and to himself, such that both are true.
DThis spelling variant is just a matter of whether or not the first letter of the word should disappear due to its alphabetical “weakness,” not a matter of a different stem or tense.
Ecf. the MT of Psalm 18, where a single vowel change transforms the root from “look around for help” to “holler for help,” but both carry the same basic idea. However, since the LXX, Syriac, Targums, and Vulgate all read “holler” here, I suspect that the error lies in the Masoretic pointing which should have placed a qibbutz or qamets-hatuf under the shin rather than placing a shevah under it.
FThis “and” is not in the Vulgate; it was supplied for the English translation.
GVulgate, LXX, and Targums support the MT here, but Syriac and DSS follow the MT of Psalm 18 פְּנֵי רוּחַ “upon the face of the wind” (although the DSS פני ארח appears to be a misspelling “upon the face of the length”). Nevertheless, the differences in prepositions and object do not destroy the general idea.
HPs. 18 changes one letter to a very similar-looking letter to get, “I emptied them,” which doesn’t change the general idea of ignominy.
IThe DSS, Syriac, and LXX follow the MT of Ps. 18, rather than the MT of 2 Sam. 22, with only one verb instead of two here. The second verb in the MT of 2 Sam. 22 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 add a conjunction to make the sentence make sense.
JSyriac and Vulgate follow the MT text of Psalm 18 which omits the initial “and/also,” but the conjunction is in the LXX, DSS, Targums, and MT of 2 Sam. 22.
KSyriac, Targums, and Lucian Rescription follow the MT of Psalm 18 with “the people,” but the consonantal Hebrew of 2 Sam. 22 can be read “my people” or “peoples of,” depending on vowel pointing. LXX and some rabbinical writings went with “peoples,” and Vulgate and MT went with “my people.” “My people” would differentiate foreign enemies from internal political rivals, but both types of adversaries seem to be indicated in the course of this psalm.
LSyriac adds a conjunction, but otherwise follows the MT of Psalm 18 (as does the Lucian Rescription) with “made/put” instead of “kept,” which is the MT of 2 Sam. 22 (followed by the LXX and Vulgate). One Targums tradition of 2 Sam. 22 reads “kept,” while another reads “put,” so that doesn’t help settle the matter, nor does consulting with the DSS, which is obliterated at this point. In Hebrew, the addition of one letter makes the difference.
MThe Hebrew grammar is unusual here. The word for “people/ethnic group” is singular עַם /λαον and comes in an emphatic position before the verb, yet the final verb is plural (“they serve”). I have attempted to solve that difficulty by interpreting the emphatic position as a parenthetical addition to the object of the previous construct, applying “head of” to both the goyim and to the am, so that both the foreign nations and the home people serve this king. (Keil & Delitzsch, on the other hand, explained it as an “indefinite… to signify foreign nations.”)
NDSS of 2 Sam. 22 and Syriac and MT of Psalm 18 switch the order of the first and second line of this verse. Enough is obliterated in the DSS that it is not discernible whether it was also following the MT spellings of Psalm 18 or of 2 Sam. 22. The DSS might or might not omit the first two words of the next verse, depending on how one interprets the spacing, seeing as most of the lines on that manuscript end at a place which would require omitting the first two words of the next verse in the MT. However, 5 lines previously in that DSS manuscript, an additional 12 letters and spaces appear after the place where most of the other lines end, so the possibility of those 7 extra letters at the beginning of the next verse being tacked on in the margin like they were in the DSS of v.38 cannot be ruled out in my mind, so I think the DSS is ambiguous on this point.
OThe Niphal Passive spelling is confusing, but without the vowel pointings added in the 900’s AD, the Qal Active would look exactly the same. It appears that the LXX interpreted this as a Qal long before the pointings were added, and the English versions also interpreted this as Qal despite the Masoretic pointings, so I’ll follow suit, but I’ll use a transitive form. I like Keil & Delitzsch’s translation, “Upon hearsay they obey me.”
P2 Sam. 22:45 renders this verb in Hitpael (reflexive action), whereas Psalm 18 renders it a Piel (intensive action), but this doesn’t essentially change meaning. K&D add, “In the primary passage (Deut. 33:29) the Niphal (passive action) is used to signify the dissembling of friendship, or of involuntary homage on the part of the vanquished towards the victor.”
QInstead of “they wilt and jump from their borders,” the DSS reads “they will not jump from their bonds.” The “lo” (לו-) at the end of the Hebrew verb for “they wilt” could sound like the Hebrew word for “not” (לא), although it would be spelled with a different vowel. The ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Targums, Vulgate) and Ps. 18 all support the MT.
RDSS drops the gimmel to read ממסרותם (“bonds” from the root אסר), which isn’t too different in meaning from the root with the gimmel סגר (“boundary”); as a result it is hard to tell whether the ancient versions were following one or the other. (LXX sugkleion describes a city which is sealed shut to endure a siege. Syriac שׁביליהון is translated “ways” by Lamsa. And Targums מִבִירָניָתְהוֹן is translated “fortresses” in the CAL Aramaic Database.) The parallel passages in Ps. 18 and Micah 7:17 support the MT over the DSS here. Of the 17 occurrences of this word, English versions concur in 14 instances that it should be translated “rim/border.” This psalm and Micah 7:17 are the exception, but was an exception necessary? Why not picture foreigners voluntarily changing allegiance to the King rather than being chased down and forced to surrender?
SThe MT of Psalm 18 transposes two letters, turning the word into a hapex legomenon, which makes it suspect of a scribal error. The only other occurrence of any word in the Old Testament sharing that root with the transposed letters is the chargal, an edible locust mentioned in Lev. 11:22. Therefore, in Psalm 18, most translations reflect the meaning of the word as it is spelled in 2 Sam. 22. K&D, to the contrary, wrote that 2 Sam. 22 was a misspelling of the Psalm 18 spelling, but they didn’t know that the DSS would later be discovered to support the 2 Sam. 22 spelling. In the end, K&D came up with the similar meaning of “limping/trembling” out of the Psalm 18 spelling that others got out of the 2 Sam. 22 spelling, so the difference is not significant. Tsumura (NICOT) agreed with K&D that the 2 Sam. 22 spelling is a derivative (he called it a “metathesis”) of the Psalm 18 spelling (even though he earlier asserted that 2 Sam. 22 came first), but he further asserted that the 2 Sam. 22 spelling, “is from the verbal root *hrg ‘quake.’ Such metathesis often occurs when the verbal root includes the consonant /r/. Hence both forms are acceptable, and either could have existed in the original texts.”
TThis is an oath formula in most cases (cf. all instances of חַי יְהוָה in the OT: Jdg. 8:19; Ruth 3:13; 1 Sam. 14:39, 45; 19:6; 20:3, 21; 25:26, 34; 26:10, 16; 28:10; 29:6; 2 Sam. 4:9; 12:5; 14:11; 15:21; *; 1 Ki. 1:29; 2:24; 17:1, 12; 18:10, 15; 22:14; 2 Ki. 2:2, 4, 6; 3:14; 4:30; 5:16, 20; 2 Chr. 18:13; Ps. 18:47; Jer. 4:2; 12:16; 16:14-15; 23:7-8; 38:16; Hos. 4:15). K&D noted: “The Lord is living or alive when He manifests His life in acts of omnipotence.”
UThe Hebrew word tsur has to do with “narrowing” - either to put limitations upon the subject, or to put limitations on the subject’s enemies, the latter of which is in view. The LXX φύλαξ = “guard” is consistent with this meaning. But Vulgate (fortis), Targums (תְקוֹף), and Syriac (מחיל) all read “strength.”
VSyriac follows Psalm 18 in omitting this word here. The DSS is obliterated at the end, and, since lengths of the lines in the manuscript have some variance, its spacing could support either the presence or non-presence of the last tsur, so what we have of the DSS is ambiguous on this variant.
WCuriously, the LXX of Ps. 18 is a more-accurate translation of the MT of 2 Sam. 22 than the LXX of 2 Sam. 22 is! The addition of the word “strong” can be explained in terms of the LXX tradition of giving two translations of the same word when there is uncertainty as to its meaning. In this case, the Hebrew word could be interpreted as “strength” or as “the God,” although the latter fits better. This could also be explained in terms of a scribe interpreting the word he heard from the lector one way, not realizing that the other spelling was intended because both words sounded about the same. Either way, the meaning was not changed into something different or contradictory.
XCompare to v.30 “this God; His ways have integrity” and 32 “this God really equips me with resources and gives integrity to my way.”
YLXX reads “disciplining,” but DSS and Lucian Rescription read with the synonym ומרדד (“spread prostrate”), and Targums supports MT with וְתָבַר “conquer,” as does Syriac ושׁעבד (“brought down”).
ZThe dbr verb here in Ps. 18 more properly means “to speak words,” and is a different word than the Hebrew word in v.39 which some English versions translate “subdue.” Of the over 1,100 times that the verb davar appears in the O.T., English versions only translate it “subdue” in only two places, namely here and in Psalm 47:3.
AAThe Hebrew word for “anger” is spelled with the same two consonants as the Hebrew word for “moreover” in Psalm 18, so this confusion is understandable, but the text of 2 Sam. 22 is a conjunction synonymous with “moreover,” not a synonym for “anger,” so other versions were right to interpret it as a conjunction.
ABThe parallel in Psalm 18 reads “delivering me from” rather than “bringing me out from,” but the meaning is not significantly different.
ACOpen Scriptures Hebrew Bible Cantillation notes at https://hb.openscriptures.org/structure/OshbVerse/index.html?b=2Sam&c=22&v=49 indicate that there is a stronger phrase break here than between the next two phrases in this verse.
ADTWOT makes the point that hamas is only used of sinful violence and injustice. Here it is plural (a form only found elsewhere in Ps. 140:2 & 5 and in Prov. 4:17), indicating not merely an offender but a repeat offender, and the Hebrew (and Greek and Latin and Syriac) word for “man” is singular.
AEcf. v.17. DSS instead תצרני “you oppressed me,” a change of only one significant letter, an “r” for an “l” sound, which is a pretty common linguistic interchange, but which changes the meaning to be quite contrary to the meaning of the rest of the verse. All the ancient versions agree with the MT “you deliver me.”
AFTargums and Syriac read with the synonym עממא (“peoples”). The Hebrew preposition does not specify whether “with the nations” or “among the nations” is intended. David’s role was not very apostolic, although he did spend some time living with Philistines and fighting other neighboring peoples. Solomon had much more of the role of praising God “among” the nations. In this verse, if David had meant to exclude the meaning “with,” he could have used the word btvk instead to more clearly indicate “among,” but since he didn’t, and since David was aware of God’s plan to bless all nations that they might all bless His name, I decided to translate the word “with” instead of “among,” notwithstanding the fact that every English version at my disposal translated it “among” (except for the NET, which oddly translated it “before,” which would normally be denoted by a different Hebrew preposition -ל). cf. also Rom. 15:9, which quotes this verse: “Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: "FOR THIS REASON I WILL CONFESS TO YOU AMONG THE GENTILES, AND SING TO YOUR NAME." (NKJV)
AGcf. Psalm 7:17 “I will respond to Yahweh according to His righteousness, and I will play music about the name of Yahweh the Most High.” 9:1-3 “I will respond to Yahweh with all my heart; I will recount all of Your wonders. I will be happy and exuberant in You. I will play music about Your preeminent Name while my enemies turn back. They will stumble and perish before Your face” 9:11 “Play music for Yahweh (the One who inhabits Zion). Declare among the peoples His exploits…” 27:6 “And now my head will be lifted up over my enemies around me, and I will sacrifice there at His tent sacrifices of applause. I will sing there and I will play music there to Yahweh!” 33:2 “Y'all, respond to Yahweh with a guitar; with a ten-string harp make music to Him!” (NAW) 57:9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.” 66:4 “All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.” (KJV) And many others.
AHQere reads מִגְדּוֹל “tower” instead of “making great.” King James, NKJV, AJV, and NASB go with “Tower,” but the ASV, RV, NIV, ESV, NLT, NET, CEV, as well as all the ancient versions (Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, Targums), and Psalm 18 read “great/increasing.” K&D asserted that “tower… is a singular conjecture.” Towers were not a part of David’s story, and “tower” is not among the war-metaphors for God listed at the opening of this psalm, but the ending of the Psalm does list God’s actions, so “making great” makes sense literarily (although the metaphor “rock” does occur a few verses previous). The Hebrew Grace Prayer Book has two copies of this prayer, one with “tower,” and the other with “great.”
AIThe qere marginal notes in the Masoretic Hebrew text of Psalm 18:51 suggest adding a yod to conform with the spelling of this Psalm’s counterpart in 2 Sam 22:51 – the only other place in the O.T. where this spelling occurs, shifting the meaning from the noun “tower” to the participle “making great.” This consonantal spelling of the keteb is found in Psalm 61:3 “For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy,” the only other place in the O.T. where that spelling occurs.