This psalm is found, with some unimportant variations, in 2 Sam. 22. In that history, as in the inscription of the psalm here, it is said to have been composed by David on the occasion when the Lord "delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul." There can, therefore, be no doubt that David was the author, nor can there be any as to the occasion on which it was composed. It is a song of victory, and is beyond doubt the most sublime ode that was ever composed on such an occasion. David, long pursued and harassed by foes who sought his life, at length felt that a complete triumph was obtained, and that he and his kingdom were safe, and he pours forth the utterances of a grateful heart for God's merciful and mighty interposition, in language of the highest sublimity, and with the utmost grandeur of poetic imagery. Nowhere else, even in the sacred Scriptures, are there to be found images more beautiful, or expressions more sublime, than those which occur in this psalm.
From the place which this psalm occupies in the history of the life of David (2 Sam. 22), it is probable that it was composed in the latter years of his life, though it occupies this early place in the Book of Psalm. We have no reason to believe that the principle adopted in the arrangement of the Psalm was to place them in chronological order; and we cannot determine why in that arrangement this psalm has the place which has been assigned to it; but we cannot well be mistaken in supposing that it was composed at a somewhat advanced period of the life of David, and that it was in fact among the last of his compositions. Thus, in the Book of Samuel, it is placed (1 Sam. 22) immediately preceding a chapter (1 Sam. 23) which professes (1-Samuel 23:1) to record "the last words of David." And thus in the title it is said to have been composed when "the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies," an event which occurred only at a comparatively late period of his life.
The circumstance which is mentioned in the title - "and out of the hand of Saul" - does not necessarily conflict with this view, or make it necessary for us to suppose that it was composed immediately after his deliverance from the hand of Saul. To David, recording and recounting the great events of his life, that deliverance would occur as one of the most momentous and worthy of a grateful remembrance, for it was a deliverance which was the foundation of all his subsequent successes, and in which the divine interposition had been most remarkable. At any time of his life it would be proper to refer to this as demanding special acknowledgment. Saul had been among the most formidable of all his enemies. The most distressing and harassing events of his life had occurred in the time of his conflicts with him. God's interpositions in his behalf had occurred in the most remarkable manner, in delivering him from the dangers of that period of his history.
It was natural and proper, therefore, in a general song of praise, composed in view of all God's interpositions in his behalf, that he should refer particularly to those dangers and deliverances. This opinion, that the psalm was composed when David was aged, which seems so obvious, is the opinion of Jarchi and Kimchi, of Rosenmuller and DeWette. The strong imagery, therefore, in the psalm, describing mighty convulsions of nature Psalm 18:6-16, is to be understood, not as a literal description, but as narrating God's gracious interposition in the time of danger, "as if" the Lord had spoken to him out of the temple; "as if" the earth had trembled; "as if" its foundations had been shaken; "as if" a smoke had gone out of his nostrils; "as if" he had bowed the heavens and come down; "as if" he had thundered in the heavens, and had sent out hailstones and coals of fire, etc.
From the fact that there are variations, though not of an essential character, in the two copies of the psalm, it would seem not improbable that it had been revised by David himself, or by some other person, after it was first composed, and that one copy was used by the author of the Book of Samuel, and the other by the collector and arranger of the Book of Psalm. These variations are not important, and by no means change the essential character of the psalm. It is not very easy to see why they were made, if they were made designedly, or to account for them if they were not so made. They are such as the following: The introduction, or the title of it, is adapted, in the psalm before us, to the purposes for which it was designed, when it was admitted into the collection. "To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words," etc. The first verse of Ps. 18, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength," is not found in the psalm as it is in the Book of Samuel. The second verse of the psalm is, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."
In Samuel, the corresponding passage is, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock, in him will I trust; he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence." In Psalm 18:4, the reading is, "The sorrows of death compassed me" etc.; in Samuel, "The waves of death compassed me." Similar variations, affecting the words, without materially affecting the sense, occur in Psalm 18:2-4, Psalm 18:6-8, Psalm 18:11-16, Psalm 18:19-21, Psalm 18:23-27, also in Psalm 18:28-30, Psalm 18:32-45, and Ps. 18:47-51. See these passages arranged in Rosenmuller's Scholia, vol. i., pp. 451-458. In no instance is the sense very materially affected, though the variations are so numerous.
It is impossible now to account for these variations. Hammond, Kennicott, and others, suppose that they occurred from the errors of transcribers. But to this opinion Schultens opposes unanswerable objections. He refers particularly
(a) to the multitude and variety of the changes;
(b) to the condition or state of the codices;
(c) to the nature of the variations, or to the fact that changes are made in words, and not merely in letters of similar forms which might be mistaken for each other.
See his arguments in Rosenmuller, Schol., vol. i., pp. 441-443. It seems most probable, therefore, that these changes were made by design, and that it was done either by David, who revised the original composition. and issued two forms of the poem, one of which was inserted in the history in Samuel, and the other in the collection of the Psalm; or that the changes were made by the collector of the Psalm, when they were arranged for public worship. The former supposition is a possible one; though, as the psalm was composed near the close of the life of David, it would seem not to be very probable. The most natural supposition, therefore, is, that the changes were made by the collector of the Psalm, whoever he might be, or by the person who presided over this part of public worship in the temple, and that the changes were made for some reason which we cannot now understand, as better adapting the psalm to musical purposes.
Doederlein supposes that the recension was made by some later poet, for the purpose of "polishing" the language; of giving it a more finished poetic form; and of adapting it better to public use; and he regards both forms as "genuine, elegant, sublime; the one more ancient, the other more polished and refined." It seems most probable that the changes were made with a view to some rhythmical or musical effect, or for the purpose of adapting the psalm to the music of the temple service. Such changes would depend on causes which could be now little understood, as we are not sufficiently acquainted with the music employed in public worship by the Hebrews, nor are we now competent to understand the effect which, in this respect, would be produced by a slight change of phraseology. Variations of a similar nature now exist in psalms and hymns which could not be well explained or understood by one who was not familiar with our language and with our music, and which, after as long an interval as that between the time when the Psalm were arranged for musical purposes and the present time, would be wholly unintelligible.
The psalm embraces the following subjects:
I. A general acknowledgment of God, and thanks to him, as the Deliverer in the time of troubles, and as worthy to be praised, Psalm 18:1-3.
II. A brief description of the troubles and dangers from which the psalmist had been rescued, Psalm 18:4-5.
III. A description, conceived in the highest forms of poetic language, of the divine interposition in times of danger, Psalm 18:6-19,
IV. A statement of the psalmist that this interposition was of such a nature as to vindicate his own character, or to show that his cause was a righteous cause; that he was right, and that his enemies had been in the wrong; that God approved his course, and disapproved the course of his enemies: or, in other words, that these interpositions were such as to prove that God was just, and would deal with men according to their character, Psalm 18:20-30.
V. A recapitulation of what God had done for him, in enabling him to subdue his enemies, and a statement of the effect which he supposed would be produced on others by the report of what God had done in his behalf, Psalm 18:31-45.
VI. A general expression of thanksgiving to God as the author of all these blessings, and as worthy of universal confidence and praise, Psalm 18:46-50.
Psalm 18:Title
"To the chief Musician." See the notes to the title of Psalm 4:1-8.
A Psalm of David - The words "A Psalm" are not here in the original, and may convey a slightly erroneous impression, as if the psalm had been composed for the express purpose of being used publicly in the worship of God. In the corresponding place in 2 Sam. 22, it is described as a "Song" of David: "And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song." It was originally an expression of his private gratitude for God's distinguishing mercies, and was afterward, as we have seen, probably adapted to purposes of public worship by some one of a later age.
The servant of the Lord - This expression also is wanting in 2 Sam. 22. It is undoubtedly an addition by a later hand, as indicating the general character which David had acquired, or as denoting the national estimate in regard to his character. The same expression occurs in the title to Psalm 36:1-12. The Aramaic Paraphrase translates this title: "To be sung over the wonderful things which abundantly happened to the servant of the Lord, to David, who sang," etc. The use of the phrase here - "the servant of the Lord" - by him who made the collection of the Psalm, would seem to imply that he regarded the psalm as having a sufficiently public character to make it proper to introduce it into a collection designed for general worship. In other words, David was not, in the view of the author of the collection, a private man, but was eminently a public servant of Yahweh; and a song of grateful remembrance of God's mercies to him was entitled to be regarded as expressing the appropriate feelings of God's people in similar circumstances in all times.
Who spake unto the Lord - Composed it as giving utterance to his feelings toward the Lord.
The words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him - When the Lord "had" delivered him; when he felt that he was completely rescued from "all" his foes. This does not mean that the psalm was composed on a particular day when God had by some one signal act rescued him from impending danger, but it refers to a calm period of his life. when he could review the past, and see that God had rescued him from "all" the enemies that had ever threatened his peace. This would probably, as has been suggested above, occur near the close of his life.
From the hand of all his enemies - Out of the hand, or the power. There is here a "general" view of the mercy of God in rescuing him from all his foes.
And from the hand of Saul - Saul had been one of his most formidable enemies, and the wars with him had been among the most eventful periods of the life of David. In a general review of his life, near its close, he would naturally recur to the dangers of that period, and to God's gracious interpositions in his behalf, and it would seem to him that what God had done for him in those times deserved a special record. The original word here - כף kaph - is not the same as in the corresponding place in 2 Sam. 22 - יד yâd - though the idea is substantially the same. The word used here means properly the "palm" or "hollow" of the hand; the word used in Samuel means the hand itself. Why the change was made we have not the means of ascertaining.
And he said - So 2-Samuel 22:2. What follows is what he said.

David's address of thanks to Jehovah, Psalm 18:1-3. A relation of sufferings undergone, and prayers made for assistance, Psalm 18:4-6. A magnificent description of Divine interposition in behalf of the sufferer, Psalm 18:7-15; and of the deliverance wrought for him, Psalm 18:16-19. That this deliverance was in consideration of his righteousness, Psalm 18:20-24; and according to the tenor of God's equitable proceedings, Psalm 18:25-28. To Jehovah is ascribed the glory of the victory, Psalm 18:29-36; which ts represented as complete by the destruction of all his opponents, Psalm 18:37-42. On these events the heathen submit, Psalm 18:43-45. And for all these things God is glorified, Psalm 18:46-50.
The title: "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul."
Except the first clause, this title is taken from 2-Samuel 22:1. The reader is requested to turn to the notes on 2-Samuel 22:1, for some curious information on this Psalm, particularly what is extracted from Dr. Kennicott. This learned writer supposes the whole to be a song of the Messiah, and divides it into five parts, which he thus introduces: -
"The Messiah's sublime thanksgivings, composed by David when his wars were at an end, towards the conclusion of his life. And in this sacred song the goodness of God is celebrated,
1. For Messiah's resurrection from the dead, with the wonders attending that awful event, and soon following it.
2. For the punishment inflicted on the Jews; particularly by the destruction of Jerusalem. And,
3. For the obedience of the Gentile nations. See Romans 15:9; Hebrews 2:13; and Matthew 28:2-4; with Matthew 24:7, Matthew 24:29."
And that the title now prefixed to this hymn here and in 2-Samuel 22:1, describes only the time of its composition, seems evident; for who can ascribe to David himself as the subject, 2-Samuel 22:5, 2-Samuel 22:6, 2-Samuel 22:8-17, 2-Samuel 22:21-26, 2-Samuel 22:30, 2-Samuel 22:42, 2-Samuel 22:44, etc.?
In Dr. Kennicott's remarks there is a new translation of the whole Psalm, p. 178, etc.
The strong current of commentators and critics apply this Psalm to Christ; and to oppose a whole host of both ancients and moderns would argue great self-confidence. In the main I am of the same mind; and on this principle chiefly I shall proceed to its illustration; still however considering that there are many things in it which concern David, and him only. Drs. Chandler and Delaney have been very successful in their illustration of various passages in it; all the best critics have brought their strongest powers to bear on it; and most of the commentators have labored it with great success; and Bishop Horne has applied the whole of it to Christ. My old Psalter speaks highly in its praise: "This Psalme contenes the sacrement of al chosyn men, the qwilk doand the law of God thurgh the seven fald grace of the Haly Gast fra al temptaciouns, and the pouste of dede and of the devel lesid: this sang thai syng til God; and thankes him and says, I sal luf the Lord, noght a day or twa, bot ever mare: my strength, thurgh quam I am stalworth in thoght."

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 18
To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. This is the same with that in 2-Samuel 22:1, with some variations, omissions, and alterations:
the servant of the Lord; not only by creation, nor merely by regeneration, but by office, as king of Israel, being put into it by the Lord, and acting in it in submission and obedience to him; just as the apostles under the New Testament, on account of their office, so style themselves in their epistles:
who spake unto the Lord the words of this song; that is, who delivered and sung this song in so many express words, in public, before all the congregation of Israel, to the honour and glory of God:
in the day [that] the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, Not that this psalm was composed and sung the selfsame day that David was delivered from Saul, and set upon the throne; for it seems to have been written in his old age, at the close of his days; for immediately after it, in the second book of Samuel, it follows, "now these be the last words of David", 2-Samuel 23:1, but the sense is, that whereas David had many enemies, and particularly Saul, who was his greatest enemy, the Lord delivered him from them all, and especially from him, from him first, and then from all the rest; which when he reflected upon in his last days, he sat down and wrote this psalm, and then sung it in public, having delivered it into the hands of the chief musician for that purpose. There are two passages cited out of it in the New Testament, and applied to Christ; Psalm 18:2, in Hebrews 2:13, and Psalm 18:49 in Romans 15:9; and there are many things in it that very well agree with him; he is eminently the "servant" of the Lord as Mediator; he was encompassed with the snares and sorrows of death and hell, and with the floods of ungodly men, when in the garden and on the cross God was his helper and deliverer, as man; and he was victorious over all enemies, sin, Satan, the world, death and hell; as the subject of this psalm is all along represented: and to Christ it does most properly belong to be the head of the Heathen, whose voluntary subjects the Gentiles are said to be, Psalm 18:43; and which is expressed in much the same language as the like things are in Isaiah 55:4; which is a clear and undoubted prophecy of the Messiah; to which may be added, that the Lord's Anointed, the King Messiah, and who is also called David, is expressly mentioned in Psalm 18:50; and which is applied to the Messiah by the Jews (q) as Psalm 18:32 is paraphrased of him by the Targum on it;
and he said; the following words:
(q) Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 2. & Midrash Tillim in Tzeror Hammor, fol. 47. 3.

(v. 1-19) David rejoices in the deliverances God wrought for him.
(Psalm 18:20-28) He takes the comfort of his integrity, which God had cleared up.
(v. 29-50) He gives to God the glory of all his mighty deeds.

David's Hymnic Retrospect of a Life Crowned with Many Mercies
Next to a תּפּלּה of David comes a שׁירה (nom. unitatis from שׁיר), which is in many ways both in words and thoughts (Symbolae p. 49) interwoven with the former. It is the longest of all the hymnic Psalm, and bears the inscription: To the Precentor, by the servant of Jahve, by David, who spake unto Jahve the words of this song in the day that Jahve had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saûl: then he said. The original inscription of the Psalm in the primary collection was probably only לדוד למנצח לעבד ה, like the inscription of Psalm 36:1-12. The rest of the inscription resembles the language with which songs of this class are wont to be introduced in their connection in the historical narrative, Exodus 15:1; Numbers 21:17, and more especially Deuteronomy 31:30. And the Psalm before us is found again in 2 Sam 22, introduced by words, the manifestly unaccidental agreement of which with the inscription in the Psalter, is explained by its having been incorporated in one of the histories from which the Books of Samuel are extracted, - probably the Annals (Dibre ha-Jamim) of David. From this source the writer of the Books of Samuel has taken the Psalm, together with that introduction; and from this source also springs the historical portion of the inscription in the Psalter, which is connected with the preceding by אשׁר.
David may have styled himself in the inscription עבד ה, just as the apostles call themselves δοῦλοι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. He also in other instances, in prayer, calls himself "the servant of Jahve," Psalm 19:12, Psalm 19:14; Psalm 144:10; 2-Samuel 7:20, as every Israelite might do; but David, who is the first after Moses and Joshua to bear this designation or by-name, could to so in an especial sense. For he, with whom the kingship of promise began, marks an epoch in his service of the work of God no less than did Moses, through whose mediation Israel received the Law, and Joshua, through whose instrumentality they obtained the Land of promise.
The terminology of psalm-poesy does not include the word שׁירה, but only שׁיר. This at once shows that the historical portion of the inscription comes from some other source. בּיום is followed, not by the infin. הצּיל: on the day of deliverance, but by the more exactly plusquamperf. הצּיל: on the day (בּיום = at the time, as in Genesis 2:4, and frequently) when he had delivered - a genitival (Ges. 116, 3) relative clause, like Psalm 138:3; Exodus 6:28; Numbers 3:1, cf. Psalm 56:10. מיּד alternates with מכּף in this text without any other design than that of varying the expression. The deliverance out of the hand of Saul is made specially prominent, because the most prominent portion of the Psalm, Psalm 18:5, treats of it. The danger in which David the was placed, was of the most personal, the most perilous, and the most protracted kind. This prominence was of great service to the collector, because the preceding Psalm bears the features of this time, the lamentations over which are heard there and further back, and now all find expression in this more extended song of praise.
Only a fondness for doubt can lead any one to doubt the Davidic origin of this Psalm, attested as it is in two works, which are independent of one another. The twofold testimony of tradition is supported by the fact that the Psalm contains nothing that militates against David being the author; even the mention of his own name at the close, is not against it (cf. 1-Kings 2:45). We have before us an Israelitish counterpart to the cuneiform monumental inscriptions, in which the kings of worldly monarchies recapitulate the deeds they have done by the help of their gods. The speaker is a king; the author of the Books of Samuel found the song already in existence as a Davidic song; the difference of his text from that which lies before us in the Psalter, shows that at that time it had been transmitted from some earlier period; writers of the later time of the kings here and there use language which is borrowed from it or are echoes of it (comp. Proverbs 30:5 with Psalm 18:31; Habakkuk 3:19 with Psalm 18:34); it bears throughout the mark of the classic age of the language and poetry, and "if it be not David's, it must have been written in his name and by some one imbued with his spirit, and who could have been this contemporary poet and twin-genius?" (Hitzig). All this irresistibly points us to David himself, to whom really belong also all the other songs in the Second Book of Samuel, which are introduced as Davidic (over Saul and Jonathan, over Abner, etc.). This, the greatest of all, springs entirely from the new self-consciousness to which he was raised by the promises recorded in 2 Sam 7; and towards the end, it closes with express retrospective reference to these promises; for David's certainty of the everlasting duration of his house, and God's covenant of mercy with his house, rests upon the announcement made by Nathan.
The Psalm divides into two halves; for the strain of praise begins anew with Psalm 18:32, after having run its first course and come to a beautiful close in Psalm 18:31. The two halves are also distinct in respect of their artificial form. The strophe schema of the first is: 6. 8. 8. 6. 8 (not 9). 8. 8. 8. 7. The mixture of six and eight line strophes is symmetrical, and the seven of the last strophe is nothing strange. The mixture in the second half on the contrary is varied. The art of the strophe system appears here, as is also seen in other instances in the Psalm, to be relaxed; and the striving after form at the commencement has given way to the pressure and crowding of the thoughts.
The traditional mode of writing out this Psalm, as also the Cantica, 2 Sam 22 and Judg 5, is "a half-brick upon a brick, and a brick upon a half-brick" (אירח על גבי לבנה ולבנה על גבי אריח): i.e., one line consisting of two, and one of three parts of a verse, and the line consisting of the three parts has only one word on the right and on the left; the whole consequently forms three columns. On the other hand, the song in Deut 32 (as also Joshua 12:9., Esther 9:7-10) is to be written "a half-brick upon a half-brick and a brick upon a brick," i.e., in only two columns, cf. infra p. 168.
Psalm 18 according to the Text of 2 Samuel 22
2-Samuel 22:1
On the differences of the introductory superscription, see on Psalm 18:1. The relation of the prose accentuation of the Psalm in 2 Sam 22 to the poetical accentuation in the Psalter is instructive. Thus, for example, instead of Mercha mahpach. (Olewejored) in the Psalter we here find Athnach; instead of the Athnach following upon Mercha mahpach., here is Zakeph (cf. Psalm 18:7, Psalm 18:16, Psalm 18:31 with 2-Samuel 22:7, 2-Samuel 22:16, 2-Samuel 22:31); instead of Rebia mugrash, here Tiphcha (cf. Psalm 18:4 with 2-Samuel 22:4); instead of Pazer at the beginning of a verse, here Athnach (cf. Psalm 18:2 with 2-Samuel 22:2).
(Note: Vid., Baer's Accentsystem xv., and Thorath Emeth iii. 2 together with S. 44, Anm.)
The peculiar mode of writing the stichs, in which we find this song in our editions, is the old traditional mode. If a half-line is placed above a half-line, so that they form two columns, it is called לבנה על־גבי לבנה אריח על־גבי אריח, brick upon brick, a half-brick upon a half-brick, as the song Haazinu in Deut 32 is set out in our editions. On the other hand if the half-lines appear as they do here divided and placed in layers one over another, it is called אריח על־גבי לבנה ולבנה על־גבי אריח. According to Megilla 16b all the cantica in the Scriptures are to be written thus; and according to Sofrim xiii., Ps 18 has this form in common with 2 Sam 22.