2 Samuelchapter 22
51 verses · Samuel, Nathan and Gad, by tradition · 10th century BC · History
And David sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
Introduction
Samuel, Nathan and Gad, by tradition, History, 2 Samuel Overview.
This chapter is a song David sang for the LORD's rescue from all his enemies, and the same song stands in the Psalter as Psalm 18. The writer of 2 Samuel places it near the end of the book, after the wars and the revolts are over. It was sung in Israel's worship long after the king who wrote it had died. Its pictures come from a soldier's life and from a storm over the hills. Listen for the names David gives God at the start, and for the long answer that comes after a single cry. Listen also for the promise to David's house on which the song closes.
Context
- Who
- Israelites who sang this in worship long after the king who wrote it was dead
- What
- A song of thanksgiving for the LORD's deliverance of David from all his enemies, kept a second time as Psalm 18.
- Where
- Israel's worship, where the song was kept both here and in the Psalter.
- When
- Composed across the reign and placed after the wars, about 975 BC.
- Why
- To give Israel the king's own testimony to the LORD's rescue and to keep the covenant promise to David's line on their lips.
Historical context
This is a royal thanksgiving song, and it appears twice in the Bible, here and as Psalm 18, with small differences in wording. That is not a problem to solve; it is evidence of a living text that was copied for the national collection and sung for centuries, picking up the ordinary variations of a much-used hymn.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The images come from a soldier's world. God is a rock, a fortress, a shield, a horn, the horn being the raised horn of a bull, the picture of strength that cannot be pushed over. Feet like a deer's on high places describes a man moving surefooted on the steep limestone ridges where Israel fought. Even the line about a bronze bow being bent by his arms is concrete: composite bows took real strength to string.
The long central section is a storm. Smoke from the nostrils, darkness under his feet, hailstones, the sea floor laid bare, the earth's foundations exposed. Israel's neighbors used the same storm language for their weather gods; here it is borrowed and pointed at the God who came down on Sinai in fire and cloud, and it is answered by one small line, he drew me out of many waters.
The song closes on the promise of the covenant, naming the king and his offspring forever. That is the link that made it worth preserving; the song is not only about one man's escapes.
Significance
A nation that sang this in its assemblies was rehearsing its own history in the first person. Every deliverance in the book gets compressed into a single testimony: he sent from on high, he took me, he drew me out.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
And the ending pointed forward. Sung generations later by people whose king was weak or gone, the last line about steadfast love to David and his descendants forever kept a promise on their lips that circumstances did not support.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
This is the one chapter between 13 and 24 that the yearly cycle reaches. The reading itself stands on this card already, computed from the table of portions in the repository, and the same table records what it is set beside. The portion this chapter answers is the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, so a song of Moses and a song of David are heard in one service. The table records no separate Sephardi reading here, so both rites take the chapter whole. Why the two songs were put together is a teaching, and the corpus for this book carries no work on it, so no reason is given here.
How it is read
Rashi dates the song late and then takes most of it away from David's own life. At the first verse he places it in the king's old age, after all his troubles had passed and he had survived them (Rashi on II Samuel 22:1:1, the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J., CC-BY). At the second and third he anchors the titles in particular escapes and in the plain use of the words. The fortress is a stronghold among the woods, and the rock is what shelters a traveller from rain and wind. He gives an old French word for each (Rashi on II Samuel 22:2:1 and 22:3:1). At the fourth he reads the praise as offered before the rescue, because David trusted he would be saved (Rashi on II Samuel 22:4:1).
From the eighth verse the song becomes a storm, and Rashi refers the shaking earth to the deliverance of Israel rather than to any rescue of David's own (Rashi on II Samuel 22:8:1). The bending of the heavens at the tenth verse is God coming down to take vengeance on Egypt and on Pharaoh (Rashi on II Samuel 22:10:1). The darkness of the twelfth is the cover of the pillar of cloud that stood between Egypt and Israel (Rashi on II Samuel 22:12:1). At the thirteenth he warns the reader against concluding that God dwells in darkness, and reads the coals of fire as coming from the light before him (Rashi on II Samuel 22:13:1). At the sixteenth the uncovered foundations are the splitting of the sea, and he adds that when the Sea of Reeds split every water in the world split with it (Rashi on II Samuel 22:16:1).
The claim of righteousness at the twenty-first verse is read the same way, of the nation rather than the king. Rashi glosses it as the righteousness of Israel following God into the desert and trusting his promise (Rashi on II Samuel 22:21:1). The same song stands a second time in Scripture as Psalm 18, and the card on that psalm carries the same reading of the same verses from a different translation. A student who reads the two cards together will find the classical commentary agreeing with itself across the two books.
Radak and Metzudat David carry nine refs. The corpus holds them with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand cited and unquoted. They are Radak on II Samuel 22:11:1, 22:14:1, 22:15:1, 22:17:1, 22:19:1, 22:22:1 and 22:23:1, and Metzudat David on II Samuel 22:20:1 and 22:25:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. They are spread thinly across fifty-one verses, so no single work holds the chapter. The Talmud stands five times, at Avot DeRabbi Natan 33:2, 34:6 and 34:7, Taanit 8b:15 and Bava Batra 123a:19, with Tractate Kallah Rabbati 3:25 and Tractate Soferim 7:1 beside them.
The Mekhilta reads the storm verses as the Exodus, which is the same turn Rashi takes. The corpus carries Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 12:30, 14:18 and 20:19, and Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 5:5 and Tractate Shirah 4:2. Midrash Sekhel Tov reads the same verses from Exodus, at Shemot 2:10:3, 7:29:2 and 9:23:5, and Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 9:14:1 stands with them.
Ein Yaakov carries nine entries across the chapter. They are Moed Katan 3:2, Rosh Hashanah 4:2, Taanit 1:40, Nedarim 3:10, Sanhedrin 11:48 and Bava Batra 8:18 in the Glick Edition, with Nedarim 3:15, Eiruvin 6:10 and Niddah 3:8. Midrash Tehillim stands three times, at 17:14, 18:23 and 25:15. Bereshit Rabbah stands at 1:12, 13:10 and 98:6, and Aggadat Bereshit at 13:1, 51:1 and 60:1. The rest are single, Devarim Rabbah 1:11, Ruth Rabbah (Lerner) 1:2:1, Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 24:22:3, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Tetzaveh 3:2, Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 33:29:9 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 825:2. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on II Samuel 22:1:1 to 22:21:1, the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J., CC-BY; Radak, Radak on II Samuel 22:11:1, 22:14:1, 22:15:1, 22:17:1, 22:19:1, 22:22:1 and 22:23:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on II Samuel 22:20:1 and 22:25:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Babylonian Talmud, Avot DeRabbi Natan 33:2, 34:6 and 34:7, Taanit 8b:15, Bava Batra 123a:19, Tractate Kallah Rabbati 3:25 and Tractate Soferim 7:1, cited by locator from the Sefaria corpus for 2 Samuel 22; The Midrash, Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 12:30, 14:18 and 20:19, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 4:2 and Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 5:5, Bereshit Rabbah 1:12, 13:10 and 98:6, Devarim Rabbah 1:11 and Aggadat Bereshit 13:1, 51:1 and 60:1, cited by locator from the Sefaria corpus for 2 Samuel 22; MannaFest, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, the Parashot table, which records Ha'azinu and its Haftarah and carries no separate Sephardi reading for this chapter.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Jehovah is my rock: a cry heard in his temple
David sang this song to the LORD: David sang this song “on the day the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul”. Albert Barnes places its making early in David’s reign, close to his final triumph over the house of Saul and the nations around him.
2 Samuel 22:1
The fifth song is in Second Samuel, when "David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul." He said, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God will be my protector."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Song of Songs, Prologuepatristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
2 Samuel 22:1
“This song, which is found with scarcely any material variation as Ps. 18, and with the words of this first verse for its title, belongs to the early part of David’s reign when he was recently established upon the throne of all Israel, and when his final triumph over the house of Saul, and over the pagan nations 2Sa 22:44-46, Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Ammonites, and Edomites, was still fresh 2 Sam. 21. For a commentary on the separate verses the reader is referred to the commentary on Ps. 18.”
2 Samuel 22:2-3
my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer: David stacks his titles for God: rock, fortress, deliverer, shield and “the horn of my salvation”. The horn goes back to Hannah’s prayer at 1 Samuel 2:1 and 2:10, where the LORD will exalt the horn of His anointed. Luke 1:69 takes up the horn of salvation.
2 Samuel 22:2
“And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. See Gill on Psa 18:2.”
You save me from violence: John Gill reads this verse with Psalm 18:2, and the two share the run of titles. The closing words about violence belong to the Samuel copy alone. Matthew Henry takes every title as God's own work, since whatever gives David strength has it from the God of his rock.
2 Samuel 22:3
“The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. See Gill on Psa 18:2.”
2 Samuel 22:4-6
who is worthy to be praised: David calls on the LORD and names his danger three ways: “the waves of death”, “the torrents of chaos” and the “cords of Sheol”. Where the Berean reads “the snares of death confronted me”, the King James reads prevented, in its old sense of came before.
2 Samuel 22:4
“I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. See Gill on Psa 18:3.”
the waves of death engulfed me: Matthew Henry names the torrents the floods of Belial, the wicked one working through wicked men, which John Gill's King James text renders ungodly men. Where Samuel has waves, Psalm 18:4 has cords, so this copy sets drowning ahead of the snares. Henry sees death and hell in arms.
2 Samuel 22:5
“When the waves of death compassed me - Though in a primary sense many of these things belong to David, yet generally and fully they belong to the Messiah alone.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The cords of Sheol entangled me: Cords and snares are a hunter's gear, and death is pictured laying its trap ahead of the prey. John Gill's King James text reads prevented, in the old sense of came before. Sheol is the grave, the place of the dead.
2 Samuel 22:6
“The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me. See Gill on Psa 18:5.”
from His temple He heard my voice: No temple stood when David sang this. Temple of the Lord is the same phrase that named the tabernacle at Shiloh back at the book's opening. Matthew Henry reads the verse as the pattern of every answered prayer, a cry that enters heaven's ears before deliverance is seen on earth.
2 Samuel 22:7
“In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears. See Gill on Psa 18:6.”
The earth shakes and God comes down to draw me out
2 Samuel 22:8-10
the earth shook and quaked: The earth “shook and quaked” and the heavens trembled, the language of Sinai, where the whole mountain quaked as the LORD came down (Exodus 19:18). “He parted the heavens and came down”, and Matthew Henry reads the section as drawn from Israel’s memory of God in the storm.
2 Samuel 22:8
“We do not find that in any of David's battles God fought for him with thunder (as in Samuel's time), or with hail (as in Joshua's time), or with the stars in their courses (as in Deborah's time); but these lofty metaphors are used, [1.] To set forth the glory of God, which was manifested in his deliverance.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Smoke rose from His nostrils: Henry observes that no battle of David's records God fighting with thunder, as for Samuel, or with hail, as for Joshua at Joshua 10:11. He takes the smoke and fire as lofty metaphors. They set forth the glory of God shown in David's rescue.
2 Samuel 22:9
“There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. See Gill on Psa 18:8.”
He parted the heavens: John Gill reads this line with Psalm 18:9. The picture is a king coming down to the field in person, with the storm cloud under His feet. David asks for the same descent at Psalm 144:5, praying for the heavens to part again.
2 Samuel 22:10
“He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet. See Gill on Psa 18:9.”
2 Samuel 22:11-12
He mounted a cherub and flew: “He mounted a cherub and flew”, a chariot picture later prophets develop. Adam Clarke notes that the sound of the Hebrew line matches its sense, wind rushing under the words. God makes darkness a canopy around Him, “a gathering of water and thick clouds”, and advances hidden inside the storm.
2 Samuel 22:11
“And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind. See Gill on Psa 18:10.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 22:11
“He rode upon a cherub, and did fly - he was seen upon the things of the wind - In the original of this sublime passage, sense and sound are astonishingly well connected.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
a gathering of water: The Berean Standard Bible reads a gathering of water, where John Gill's King James text reads dark waters, the wording of Psalm 18:11. The two books keep the line in slightly different words. Either way the rain cloud hides God as He comes.
2 Samuel 22:12
“And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies. See Gill on Psa 18:11.”
2 Samuel 22:13-16
coals of fire blazed forth: Thunder, arrows and lightning become the LORD’s weapons. “The channels of the sea appeared”, and the foundations of the world lay bare “at the rebuke of the LORD”. The song builds the scene from words Israel already kept for God in the storm and at the sea of the exodus.
2 Samuel 22:13
“Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled. See Gill on Psa 18:12.”
the voice of the Most High: John Gill reads this with Psalm 18:13, where the line closes with hailstones and coals of fire. The Samuel copy ends at the voice. Thunder is the voice of God across the Psalter, as Psalm 29:3 shows.
2 Samuel 22:14
“The Lord thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice. See Gill on Psa 18:13.”
He shot His arrows: The two clauses are Hebrew parallelism, so the arrows and the lightning name one weapon. John Gill reads the verse with Psalm 18:14. David turns the line into a prayer at Psalm 144:6, asking the Lord to shoot the same arrows again.
2 Samuel 22:15
“And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them. See Gill on Psa 18:14.”
The channels of the sea appeared: John Gill reads this line with Psalm 18:15, where the channels are of water and the sea goes unnamed. The blast of the nostrils is Moses' own phrase at Exodus 15:8 for the wind that piled up the sea. The deep gives way at God's rebuke.
2 Samuel 22:16
“And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. See Gill on Psa 18:15.”
2 Samuel 22:17-20
He drew me out of deep waters: He “took hold of me” and “drew me out of deep waters”, the picture carried in Moses’ own name, drawn out. Keil and Delitzsch hear an echo of Israel’s rescue at the sea. The open place of verse 20 answers the tight danger of the verses before it.
2 Samuel 22:17
“He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. See Gill on Psa 18:16.”
from foes too mighty for me: The powerful enemy is singular, and the next clause widens it to every foe. The heading at verse 1 names Saul beside all David's enemies. John Gill's King James text reads too strong, a plain confession of weakness.
2 Samuel 22:18
“He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. See Gill on Psa 18:17.”
in my day of calamity: Confronted renders the same verb as verse 6, and John Gill's King James text reads prevented in both places. Living enemies now do what death did there. The same text calls the Lord his stay, a staff to lean on when the ground gives way.
2 Samuel 22:19
“They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. See Gill on Psa 18:18.”
because He delighted in me: Matthew Henry traces the rescue to covenant love over common providence, with David treated as a favourite of God. At 15:26, fleeing Absalom, David left his future to whether the Lord delighted in him. Here the song gives the answer.
2 Samuel 22:20
“The deliverance came not from common providence, but covenant-love; he was herein treated as a favourite: so he perceived by the communications of divine grace and comfort to his soul with these deliverances, and the communion he had with God in them. Herein he was a type of Christ, whom God upheld because he delighted in him, Isa. xlii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful
2 Samuel 22:21-23
rewarded me according to my righteousness: David says the LORD “has rewarded me according to my righteousness” and “the cleanness of my hands”. Albert Barnes places the song early, before Bathsheba, when the claim matched David’s conduct toward Saul. Matthew Henry takes righteousness here as covenant loyalty, a life kept to God’s ordinances and statutes.
2 Samuel 22:21
“God had recompensed him, though not for his righteousness, as if that had merited any thing at the hand of God, yet according to his righteousness, which he was well pleased with, and had an eye to.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
kept the ways of the LORD: Wickedly departed pictures a man who turns off the road on purpose, and David denies it of his settled course. The ways of the LORD is Deuteronomy's term for the life the law marks out, as at Deuteronomy 8:6. John Gill reads the line with Psalm 18:21.
2 Samuel 22:22
“For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. See Gill on Psa 18:21.”
all His ordinances are before me: Ordinances and statutes are the language of Deuteronomy, the law a king was to copy and read all his days at Deuteronomy 17:18-19. David claims to have kept that law in view. John Gill reads the verse with Psalm 18:22.
2 Samuel 22:23
“By this it appeared that he was upright before God, or to God (in his sight, and with an eye to him), that he kept himself from his own iniquity, not only from that particular sin of killing Saul when it was in the power of his hand to do it, but, in general, he was afraid of sin and watchful against it, and made conscience of what he said and did.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Samuel 22:24-25
kept myself from iniquity: David repeats his claim: “I have been blameless before Him and kept myself from iniquity”. Matthew Henry ties it to a restraint the book has told, David’s refusal to kill Saul when he twice had the power. John Gill reads the repeat as a settled pattern of life.
2 Samuel 22:24
“I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. See Gill on Psa 18:23.”
according to my cleanness: Verse 25 repeats verse 21 almost word for word, so the song closes this claim as it opened. Matthew Henry reads the LORD as having repaid a righteousness and cleanness God was pleased with, which David had not earned. In His sight places the measure with God.
2 Samuel 22:25
“Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight. See Gill on Psa 18:24.”
2 Samuel 22:26-28
To the faithful You show Yourself faithful: God shows Himself faithful to the faithful and pure to the pure, “but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd”. John Gill ties the wording to its parallel in Psalm 18. The section closes with “You save an afflicted people”, while God’s eyes are on the haughty.
2 Samuel 22:26
“Even the merciful need mercy; and they shall obtain it. [2.] God's uprightness, his justice and faithfulness, will be the joy of those that are upright, just, and faithful, both towards God and man. [3.] God's purity and holiness will be the joy of those that are pure and holy, who therefore give thanks at the remembrance thereof.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
You show Yourself shrewd: The King James renders crooked as unsavoury here, as in John Gill's text, and as froward at Psalm 18:26. The Berean text sets the crooked against the pure, and God shows Himself shrewd enough to outmatch the crooked. Matthew Henry makes God's purity the joy of the pure.
2 Samuel 22:27
“With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself unsavoury. See Gill on Psa 18:26.”
an afflicted people: God saves an afflicted people. John Gill reads the verse with Psalm 18:27, where the haughty eyes belong to the proud; in Samuel the eyes are those of God. Hannah's song sets the same reversal at 1 Samuel 2:7-8, and Isaiah 2:11 carries it into the prophets.
2 Samuel 22:28
“And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down. See Gill on Psa 18:27.”
2 Samuel 22:29-31
You, O LORD, are my lamp: David calls the LORD his lamp, the one who “lights up my darkness”. The song then turns from David’s own claim to God’s character: “His way is perfect” and “the word of the LORD is flawless”. The King James reads tried for flawless, in the sense of metal refined.
2 Samuel 22:29
“For thou art my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness. See Gill on Psa 18:28.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 22:29
“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. What improvement he makes of his interest in God.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
I can scale a wall: With God David can charge an army, and John Gill's King James text gives the same Hebrew as running through a troop. The two clauses picture field battle and the siege where a soldier must scale a wall. The taking of Zion at 5:6-8 needed this daring.
2 Samuel 22:30
“For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall. See Gill on Psa 18:29.”
He is a shield: Matthew Henry sets the perfect way of God against human faithlessness. Men promise and fail to perform, while the word of the LORD proves flawless. The shield for all who take refuge returns at Proverbs 30:5 almost word for word.
2 Samuel 22:31
“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. See Gill on Psa 18:30.”
He teacheth my hands to war; my feet like hinds' feet
2 Samuel 22:32-34
who is God besides the LORD?: “For who is God besides the LORD?” turns the song from thanks to confession, a question that answers itself against the gods of the nations. God makes David’s feet “like those of a deer” and stations him “upon the heights”, sure footing on rock.
2 Samuel 22:32
“For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock, save our God? See Gill on Psa 18:31.”
He makes my way clear: John Gill's King James text renders the line as God being strength and power, who makes the way perfect. Psalm 18:32 phrases it with God arming David with strength. The perfect way God makes for David answers the perfect way of God in verse 31.
2 Samuel 22:33
“God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect. See Gill on Psa 18:32.”
like those of a deer: Matthew Henry values the gift for charging and retreating alike. Habakkuk 3:19 takes up the same words for a prophet waiting on God in hard times. The heights are the high ground an army holds, which David holds by the Lord's gift.
2 Samuel 22:34
“He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places. See Gill on Psa 18:33.”
2 Samuel 22:35-37
He trains my hands for battle: “He trains my hands for battle”, and David’s arms can bend a bow of bronze, which Matthew Henry credits to skill as much as strength. “Your gentleness exalts me” stands among the war lines, so the same God is thanked for the battles and for the patient dealing.
2 Samuel 22:35
“He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. See Gill on Psa 18:34.”
Your gentleness exalts me: The shield of salvation is armour God gives, where verse 3 made God Himself the shield. John Gill reads the verse with Psalm 18:35, which adds a clause about God's right hand holding David up. The word for gentleness comes from a root for lowliness.
2 Samuel 22:36
“Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great. See Gill on Psa 18:35.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 22:36
“To magnify the salvation, he observes, (1.) That the danger was very great and threatening out of which he was delivered.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
my ankles do not give way: Matthew Henry reads a shepherd trained into a soldier, for the boy bred to the crook was taught the arts of war. The LORD broadens the path beneath David after the strait places of the earlier verses. With room beneath him his ankles do not give way.
2 Samuel 22:37
“Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip. See Gill on Psa 18:36.”
2 Samuel 22:38-40
I pursued my enemies and destroyed them: The verbs stack: David pursues, destroys, devours and crushes his enemies until they “have fallen under my feet”. He does not turn back until they are consumed. Then the credit goes to God, “You have armed me with strength for battle”, the same claim the song makes of every victory.
2 Samuel 22:38
“I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them. See Gill on Psa 18:37.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 22:38
“The enemies of Israel were wounded, destroyed, consumed, fell under his feet, trampled upon, and disabled to rise, and their necks lay at his mercy. They cried both to earth and heaven for help, but in vain. There was none to save, none that durst appear for them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
they have fallen under my feet: Under the feet is the posture of a conquered enemy, as when Joshua's captains set their feet on the necks of kings at Joshua 10:24. John Gill reads the verse with Psalm 18:38. The next verse gives the victory back to God.
2 Samuel 22:39
“And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet. See Gill on Psa 18:38.”
armed me with strength for battle: Armed renders the verb for girding, the belt that gathered a robe for action and carried the sword. John Gill's King James text keeps the picture with girded. The foes brought low beneath David are subdued by God's hand.
2 Samuel 22:40
“For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me. See Gill on Psa 18:39.”
2 Samuel 22:41-43
You have made my enemies retreat before me: The LORD makes David’s enemies retreat, and the King James keeps the Hebrew picture of their necks, the posture of a beaten army. David grinds them “as the dust of the earth” and tramples them “like mud in the streets”, the harshest picture in the song.
2 Samuel 22:41
“Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. See Gill on Psa 18:40.”
but He did not answer: No one saves the enemies, and the LORD gives no answer. Proverbs 1:28 states the rule behind the line, that those who scorned counsel will call and receive no answer. Micah 3:4 says the same of rulers who did evil, and John Gill reads the verse with Psalm 18:41.
2 Samuel 22:42
“They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. See Gill on Psa 18:41.”
like mud in the streets: John Gill's King James text ends the verse with a scattering of the enemy, where Psalm 18:42 reads cast them out. Mud trampled in the streets is the lowest picture of defeat the prophets use, as at Micah 7:10. David has ground the enemy as the dust of the earth.
2 Samuel 22:43
“Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad. See Gill on Psa 18:42.”
2 Samuel 22:44-46
preserved me as the head of nations: The song turns from “the strife of my people” to rule over nations: God has preserved David “as the head of nations”. The setting of the book names them, the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Ammonites and Edomites. Foreigners “lose heart and come trembling from their strongholds”.
2 Samuel 22:44
“Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me. See Gill on Psa 18:43.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 22:44
"Did Jesus come into the world for this purpose, that we [the Jews] should not believe him?" To which we immediately answer that he did not come with the object of producing unbelief among the Jews; but knowing beforehand that such would be the result, he foretold it and made use of their unbelief for the calling of the Gentiles.
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Against Celsus 2.78patristic
Foreigners cower before me: Foreigners cower before David in feigned submission. Origen of Alexandria hears Christ in it, and the Gentiles as the foreigners who hear Him and obey Him. Matthew Henry reads it of the Son of David, whose gospel goes on conquering.
2 Samuel 22:45
“Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me. See Gill on Psa 18:44.”
come trembling from their strongholds: Foreigners lose heart and come out of their strongholds, the fortified close places of John Gill's King James text. Micah 7:17 pictures nations trembling out of their dens. Matthew Henry reads the line of the Son of David, whose gospel keeps conquering.
2 Samuel 22:46
“Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places. See Gill on Psa 18:45.”
Jehovah liveth: praise among the nations
2 Samuel 22:47-49
blessed be my Rock!: “The LORD lives, and blessed be my Rock!” opens the closing praise, a confession made among nations whose myths let a god die. The King James reads violent man in the singular in verse 49, which most plainly names Saul, the man of verse 1.
2 Samuel 22:47
“The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. See Gill on Psa 18:46.”
the God who avenges me: God avenges David and brings down nations beneath him, and vengeance is claimed for God and left with God. David left it with Saul at 1 Samuel 24:12, and Deuteronomy 32:35 sets the same rule. John Gill reads the verse with Psalm 18:47.
2 Samuel 22:48
“It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me. See Gill on Psa 18:47.”
You rescue me from violent men: John Gill's King James text reads violent man in the singular. Matthew Henry names that man as Saul, malicious in his designs and vigorous in pursuit. Psalm 140:1 and 140:4 ask for rescue from violent men in the same words.
2 Samuel 22:49
“And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. See Gill on Psa 18:48.”
2 Samuel 22:50-51
I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations: “Therefore I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations”. The last line names David for the only time in the psalm, “to David and his descendants forever”, and answers the covenant of chapter 7. “His anointed” returns to Hannah’s words for the king at 1 Samuel 2:10.
2 Samuel 22:50
“Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. See Gill on Psa 18:49.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 22:50
“This takes up most of the song. He gives God the glory both of his deliverances and of his successes, showing both the perils he was delivered from and the power he was advanced to. He magnifies the great salvations God had wrought for him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Great salvation He brings: John Gill's King James text reads tower of salvation, where Psalm 18:50 reads great deliverance, and the two Hebrew forms are close. Matthew Henry reads the loving devotion to David and his descendants forever of Christ, whose throne continues after the line of David has died out.
2 Samuel 22:51
“Nay, he is the horn of my salvation, by which I am strongly protected, and my enemies are strongly pushed." Christ is spoken of as the horn of salvation in the house of David, Luke i. "Am I burdened, and ready to sink?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: A song of deliverance, the C panel at the centre of the book's closing ring, preserved a second time in the Psalter, as Samuel classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The names piled up before anything is asked | Verses 2 and 3 name God before the song says what happened. Rock, fortress, deliverer, God, refuge, shield, the horn of salvation, stronghold and Saviour stand one after another with almost no sentence between them. The older writers read the density as a man reaching for enough words to cover so many separate mercies. The same pile is carried in this site's published row for Psalm 18, where it is named as the psalm's opening device.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on 2 Samuel 22:2 to 3, as the published exposition of this chapter reports them. | 2 Samuel 22:2, 2 Samuel 22:3 |
| The claim of clean hands, stated and stated again | The song says at verse 21 that the LORD rewarded him according to his righteousness and the cleanness of his hands, and it says it again at verse 25. The three verses between carry the reasons. John Gill reads the repetition as David underlining a settled pattern of life rather than restating a single act. This site's published row for Psalm 18 names the same repetition at that psalm's verses 20 and 24, which are these two verses under the Psalter's numbering.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, on 2 Samuel 22:24 to 25, as the published exposition of this chapter reports him. | 2 Samuel 22:21, 2 Samuel 22:25 |
| The praise that opens the song and closes it | The titles of verses 2 to 4 return at verses 47 to 50. The rock of verse 2 comes back as the rock that is blessed and living at verse 47. The horn of salvation at verse 3 is answered by the mercy shown to his anointed at verse 51. The violent man of verse 49 names Saul, who was named in the song's own opening verse, so the whole song returns to where it began. This site's published row for Psalm 18 carries the same frame.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 2 Samuel 22:47 to 49, as the published exposition of this chapter reports him. | 2 Samuel 22:2, 2 Samuel 22:4, 2 Samuel 22:47, 2 Samuel 22:50 |
| God answering each man in the terms that man brings | Verses 26 to 28 run four pairings in a row. With the merciful He shows Himself merciful, with the upright upright, with the pure pure, and with the crooked He shows Himself contrary. Matthew Henry reads the four as one statement of how God's character answers back whatever a man brings before Him. John Gill ties the wording directly to its parallel in Psalm 18. The section closes on the side of grace, with the afflicted people saved and the haughty brought down.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 2 Samuel 22:26 to 28, as the published exposition of this chapter reports him. | 2 Samuel 22:26, 2 Samuel 22:27, 2 Samuel 22:28 |
The debated reading
12 more paragraphs on the patterns
The song says at verses 21 to 25 that the LORD rewarded David according to his righteousness and the cleanness of his hands, and that he kept himself from his iniquity. Those verses stand in the same book as chapters 11 and 12, where David took another man's wife and had her husband killed. The published exposition of this chapter states the tension plainly and names two readings that hold the verses together.
Albert Barnes places the song's composition early, in the years before Bathsheba. A claim to clean hands still matched David's conduct against Saul then. On that reading the song is a young king's, and the appendix has placed it out of its time. That is what the appendix does with the rest of its material.
Matthew Henry takes righteousness here as covenant loyalty. It means a life given on the whole to God's statutes and judgments rather than a claim to a record without fault. He reads it as righteousness God was well pleased with rather than righteousness that earned anything. Henry also ties the claim at verses 24 and 25 to one restraint named earlier in the book. David refused to kill Saul when the power was twice in his hand.
Both readings are named here and neither is decided. This site's published row for Psalm 18 carries the same question without deciding it.
The New Testament's use
Paul quotes the song's fiftieth verse at Romans 15:9, which is Psalm 18:49 under the Psalter's numbering. He is proving that the Gentiles were always meant to glorify God for His mercy. This site's published row for Psalm 18 carries Charles Spurgeon on the quotation, who says it is clear evidence that David's Lord is in the song. It carries Adam Clarke beside him, who reads it as proof that the calling of the Gentiles was predicted.
The Berean text of Romans 15:9 gives the quoted line as written, "Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name."
The closing verse is read down a line rather than back at a battle. It names David by his own name for the only time in the whole song. It closes on the covenant of chapter 7, mercy shown to his anointed, to David and to his seed for evermore. W. G. Blaikie reads the tower of salvation as the same figure Luke's Gospel gives to Christ, the house of David's promise carried to its last heir.
The divine connection
One word runs from the opening of 1 Samuel to the opening of Luke, and this chapter is its middle. Hannah sang before Israel had a king that her horn was exalted in the LORD, and that He would exalt the horn of His anointed. That was spoken over a nation with no throne yet. David sings here at verse 3 of the horn of his salvation. Luke 1:69 takes the same word up once more, a horn of salvation raised for us in the house of His servant David.
The published exposition of this chapter names that chain. It is the clearest single thread joining the two books of Samuel to the New Testament. The last verse of this song answers Hannah's own words for king and anointed at the opening of 1 Samuel. The two poems stand at the two ends of the history and say the same thing.
A second pattern holds the song together from inside. God is the rock at verse 2, the rock beside whom there is no other at verse 32, and the rock who is blessed and living at verse 47. The hands are treated the same way. The cleanness of his hands is the ground of the reward at verses 21 and 25. At verse 35 it is his hands that God trains for battle.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, on 2 Samuel 22:1, as the published exposition of this chapter reports him; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1, 1869, on Psalm 18:4, as this site's published chapter study row for Psalm 18 carries him; Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Psalms 18:1, 339, as this site's published chapter study row for Psalm 18 carries him and This site's published guide to 2 Samuel, src/components/book/guides/2-samuel/Book2SamuelGuide.tsx, act III, the beat for chapter 22, "David's song: Psalm 18".
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, AGAINST CELSUS 2.78 and W. G. Blaikie, The Second Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).