haters" and "my enemies" being equive.- Vere. 47-49.- lent. There are several email variations between the text here and in Ps. xviii., suoh "Jehonh liveth; and blessed be my Rock, as " they cried " for they looked; and " I And exalted be the God of the rock of my emptied them dUt '' for I stamped upon them, salvation, the dift'ereuoo in both cases consisting in a Even the God that giveth me avenge- single letter, ments, Vors. 44-46.---' And bringeth down peoples under me. And bringeth me forth from my enemies. " And thou he.et delivered me from the Yea, thou lifteat me up above those that litri vings of my people ; rise up age.inst me; Thou hast protected me tbe.t I might be From the violent me.u thou deli verest me.'' head of the nations. A people whom I knew not have become In Ps. xvi ii. 46 we find simply "the God of my servants ; my salvation.'' Perhaps there seemed to Ohildren of strangers have submitted the compiler to be some confusion in calling . themselves to me; Jehovab,first David's Rock,and then the God •At the hearing of the ear they obeyed me. of his rock (but see note on ver. 3). Avenge- The children of the strangers faded away; ments, in the plural. In the La.w the sanc- They fled trembling out of their fe.st- tions were chiefly tempora.l, a.nd therefore nesses." the saints of old watched e.uxiously for, and People, in the singular, means the Jewish were strengthened by observing, the con- people e.a opposed to the nations, that is, the stantly recurring proofs of God's righteous bee.then world. The strivings here referred government of men. Peoples, in the plura.l: I :to are the long dissensions which followed heathen nations. The violent ma.n ma.y Ishbosheth'a dea.th, e.nd delayed for many especially be Saul, as is supposed in the years the appointment of David as king of title prefixed to this song in the Book of all Israel. He now feels tha.t the watchful Psalms. There probably it is genera.], a.nd co.re which had protected him during that includes all who were bitter in their hostility dangerous period had a. higher purpose than to David. the union of the twelve. tribes under one Vera. 50, 51.- head. He we.a to be the founder also of that " Therefore will I praise thee among the empire over the nations which symbolized na.tions, the gift of the bee.then world to Christ. And And to thy Ne.me will I sing. this empire had been extended to people Great deliverance giveth he to bis king, previously unknown to David. Such might And showeth grace to his messiah- be the case with Ha.da.rezer, King of Zobah, To David, and to his seed for ever." but it more especially referred to Toi, a.nd the Hittite kingdom of Ha.math (eh. viii. 9). Great deliverance; literally, he maketh great It was not from force of arms, but from the the salootion of his king; that is, he rescueth hearing of the ee.r, that ie, from the wide- him marvellously age.in and age.in. The extended fa.me of David's conquests, tha.t Toi K'ri substitutes tower, but it has no sup- sent e.mbasse.dors to offer a.llegie.noe and port either from the versions or from Pa. presents. They fled trembling, This is xviii., though admitted into the Authorized certainly the sense in Ps. xviii. 45, where, Version. The difference between the two however, there is e. transposition of letters. words "making great" and "tower" is, Probably it is the sense here. But if we in the Hebrew, trifling. To his messiah. might go to the cognate languages for an This mercy we.a shown to David as the explanation of e. rare word, it would mean anointed theocratic king, whose rule was "camo limping out of their fastnesses," as the symbol of that of Christ. men worn out with fatigue and exhaustion.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-4.-Songs of deliverance, The facts are: 1. David composes a song at the end of all the deliverances which during his life God had wrought for him. 2. He describes God as being to him e. Rock, e. Fortress, a Shield, a High Tower, e. Place of Refuge, and represents him as being actively his Deliverer and Saviour. 3. He, in look- ing on to the future, resolves to trust in him who had been so much to his life in the past, and expeots to be saved from his enemiee. 4. He, reviewing the past, feels that God is worthy of the praise expressed in this song. There is e. beautiful congruity in the place of this song being at the close of the. mO!!t dlltailed and protracted narrative 536 THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. [oH. nu. 1-51,