2 Samuel 22:2

Let us observe, in this song of praise,

I. How David adores God, and gives him the glory of his infinite perfections. There is none like him, nor any to be compared with him (Sa2 22:32): Who is God, save the Lord? All others that are adored as deities are counterfeits and pretenders. None is to be relied on but he. Who is a rock, save our God? They are dead, but the Lord liveth, Sa2 22:47. They disappoint their worshippers when they most need them. But as for God his way is perfect, Sa2 22:31. Men begin in kindness, but end not - promise, but perform not; but God will finish his work, and his word is tried, and what we may trust.

II. How he triumphs in the interest he has in this God, and his relation to him, which he lays down as the foundation of all the benefits he has received from him: He is my God; as such he cries to him (Sa2 22:7), and cleaves to him (Sa2 22:22); "and, if my God, then my rock" (Sa2 22:2), that is, "my strength and my power (Sa2 22:33), the rock under which I take shelter (he who is to me as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land), the rock on which I build my hope," Sa2 22:3. Whatever is my strength and support, it is the God of my rock that makes it so; nay, he is the God of the rock of my salvation (Sa2 22:47): my saving strength is in him and from him. David often hid himself in a rock (Sa1 24:2), but God was his chief hiding-place. "He is my fortress, in which I am safe and think myself so - my high tower, or stronghold, in which I am out of the reach of real evils - the tower of salvation (Sa2 22:51), which can never be sealed nor battered, nor undermined. Salvation itself saves me. Am I in distress? he is my deliverer - struck at, shot at? he is my shield - pursued? he is my refuge - oppressed? he is my saviour, that rescues me out of the hand of those that seek my ruin. 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, Luk 1:69. "Am I burdened, and ready to sink? The Lord is my stay (Sa2 22:19), by whom I am supported. Am I in the dark, benighted, at a loss? Thou art my lamp, O Lord! to show me my way, and thou wilt dispel my darkness," Sa2 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.

III. What improvement he makes of his interest in God. If he be mine, 1. In him will I trust (Sa2 22:3), that is, "I will resign myself to his direction, and then depend upon his power, and wisdom, and goodness, to conduct me well." 2. On him I will call (Sa2 22:4), for he is worthy to be praised. What we have found in God that is worthy to be praised should engage us to pray to him and give glory to him. 3. To him will I give thanks (Sa2 22:50), and that publicly. When he was among the heathen he would neither be afraid nor ashamed to own his obligations to the God of Israel.

IV. The full and large account he keeps for himself, and gives to others, of the great and kind things God had done for him. 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.

1. He magnifies the great salvations God had wrought for him. God sometimes brings his people into very great difficulties and dangers, that he may have the honour of saving them and they the comfort of being saved by him. He owns, Thou hast saved me from violence (Sa2 22:3), from my enemies (Sa2 22:4), from my strong enemy, meaning Saul, who, if God had not succoured him, would have been too hard for him, Sa2 22:18. Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation, Sa2 22:36. To magnify the salvation, he observes,

(1.) That the danger was very great and threatening out of which he was delivered. Men rose up against him (Sa2 22:40, Sa2 22:49) that hated him (Sa2 22:41), a violent man (Sa2 22:49) namely, Saul, who was malicious in his designs against him and vigorous in his pursuit. This is expressed figuratively, Sa2 22:5, Sa2 22:6. He was surrounded with death on every side, threatened to be overwhelmed, and saw no way of escape. So violently did the waves of death beat upon him, so strongly did the cords and snares of death hold him, that he could not help himself, any more than a man in the grave can. The floods of Belial, the wicked one, and his wicked instruments, made him afraid; he trembled to see not only earth, but death and hell, in arms against him.

(2.) That his deliverance was an answer to prayer, Sa2 22:7. He has here left us a good example, when we are in distress, to cry unto God with importunity, as children in a fright cry to their parents; and great encouragement to do so, in that he found God ready to answer prayer out of his temple in heaven, where he is continually served and adored.

(3.) That God appeared in a singular and extraordinary manner for him and against his enemies. The expressions are borrowed from the descent of the divine Majesty upon Mount Sinai, Sa2 22:8, Sa2 22:9, etc. 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. God's wisdom and power, his goodness and faithfulness, his justice and holiness, and his sovereign dominion over all the creatures and all the counsels of men, which appeared in favour of David, were as clear and bright a discovery of God's glory to an eye of faith as such miraculous interpositions would have been to an eye of sense. [2.] To set forth God's displeasure against his enemies, God so espoused his cause that he showed himself an enemy to all his enemies; his anger is set forth by a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth (Sa2 22:9), coals kindled (Sa2 22:13), arrows, Sa2 22:15. Who knows the power and terror of his wrath? [3.] To set forth the extraordinary confusion which his enemies were put into, and the consternation that seized them; as if the earth had trembled and the foundations of the world had been discovered, Sa2 22:8, Sa2 22:16. Who can stand before God when he is angry? [4.] To show how ready God was to help him: He rode upon a cherub and did fly, Sa2 22:11. God hastened to his succour, and came to him with seasonable relief, though he had seemed at a distance; yet he was a God hiding himself (Isa 14:15), for he made darkness his pavilion (Sa2 22:12), for the amazement of his enemies and the protection of his own people.

(4.) That God manifested his particular favour and kindness to him in these deliverances (Sa2 22:20): He delivered me, because he delighted in me. 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 42:1, Isa 42:2.

2. He magnifies the great successes God had crowned him with. He had not only preserved but prospered him. He was blessed, (1.) With liberty and enlargement. He was brought into a large place (Sa2 22:20), where he had room to thrive, and his steps were enlarged under him, so that he had room to stir (Sa2 22:37), being no longer straitened and confined. (2.) With military skill, and strength, and swiftness. Though he was bred up to the crook, he was well instructed in the arts of war and qualified for the toils and perils of it. God, having called him to fight his battles, qualified him for the service. He made him very ingenious (He teacheth my hands to war, Sa2 22:35. And this ingenuity was as good as strength, for it follows, "so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms," not so much by main force as by dexterity), and very vigorous and valiant. (Thou hast girded me with strength to battle, Sa2 22:40. He gives God the glory of all his courage and ability for service), and very expeditious: He maketh my feet swift like hinds feet (Sa2 22:34), which is of great advantage both in charging and retreating. (3.) With victory over his enemies, not only Saul and Absalom, but the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Syrians, and other neighbouring nations, whom he subdued and made tributaries to Israel. His wonderful victories are here described, Sa2 22:38-43. They were speedy victories (I turned not again till I had consumed them, Sa2 22:38) and complete victories. 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. God answered them, not for they were not on his side, nor did they cry unto him till they were brought to the last extremity. Being thus abandoned, they became an easy prey to David's righteous and victorious sword, so that he beat them as small as the dust of the earth, which is scattered by the wind and trodden on by every foot. (4.) With advancement to honour and power. To this he was anointed before his troubles began, and at length, post tot discrimina rerum - after all his dangers and disasters, he gained his point. God made his way perfect (Sa2 22:33), gave him success in all his undertakings, set him upon his high places (Sa2 22:34), denoting both safety and dignity. God's gentleness, his grace and tender mercy, made him great (Sa2 22:36), gave him great wealth, and great authority, and a name like that of the great men of the earth. He was kept to be the head of the heathen (Sa2 22:44); his signal preservations evinced that he was designed and reserved for something great - to rule over all Israel, notwithstanding the strivings of the people, and so that those whom he had not known should serve him, many of the nations that lay remote. Thus he was lifted up on high, as high as the throne, above those that rose up against him, Sa2 22:49.

V. The comfortable reflections he makes upon his own integrity, which God, by those wonderful deliverances, had graciously owned and witnessed to, Sa2 22:21-25. He means especially his integrity with reference to Saul and Ishbosheth, Absalom and Sheba, and those who either opposed his coming to the crown or endeavoured to dethrone him. They falsely accused him and misrepresented him, but he had the testimony of this conscience for him that he was not an ambitious aspiring man, a false and bloody man, as they called him, - that he had never taken any indirect unlawful courses to secure or raise himself, but in his whole conduct had kept in the way of his duty, - and that in the whole course of his conversation he had, for the main, made religion his business, so that he could take God's favours to him as the rewards of his righteousness, not of debt, but of grace. 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. His conscience witnessed for him, 1. That he had made the word of God his rule, and had kept to it, Sa2 22:23. Wherever he was, God's judgments were before him as his guide; whithersoever he went, he took his religion along with him, and though he was forced to depart from his country, and sent, as it were, to serve other gods, yet as for God's statutes, he did not depart from them, but kept the way of the Lord and walked in it. 2. That he had carefully avoided the bye-paths of sin. He had not wickedly departed from his God. He could not say but that he had taken some false steps, but he had not deserted God, nor forsaken his way. Sins of infirmity he could not acquit himself from, but the grace of God had kept him from presumptuous sins. Though he had sometimes weakly departed from his God. 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. The matter of Uriah is an exception (Kg1 15:5), like that in Hezekiah's character, Ch2 32:31. Note, A careful abstaining from our own iniquity is one of the best evidences of our own integrity; and the testimony of our conscience for us that we have done so will be such a rejoicing as will not only lessen the griefs of an afflicted state, but increase the comforts of a prosperous state. David reflected with more comfort upon his victories over his own iniquity than upon his conquest of Goliath and all the hosts of the uncircumcised Philistines; and the witness of his own heart to his uprightness was sweeter though more silent music than theirs that sang, David has slain his ten thousands. If a great man be a good man, his goodness will be much more his satisfaction than his greatness. Let favour be shown to the upright and his uprightness will sweeten it, will double it.

VI. The comfortable prospects he has of God's further favour. As he looks back, so he looks forward, with pleasure, and assures himself of the kindness God has in store for all the saints, for himself, and also for his seed.

1. For all good people, Sa2 22:26-28. As God had dealt with him according to his uprightness, so he will with all others. He takes occasion here to lay down the established rules of God's procedure with the children of men: -

(1.) That he will do good to those that are upright in their hearts. As we are found towards God, he will be found towards us. [1.] God's mercy and grace will be the joy of those that are merciful and gracious. 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. And, if any of these good people be afflicted people, he will save them, either out of their afflictions or by and after them. On the other hand,

(2.) That those who turn aside to crooked ways he will lead forth with the workers of iniquity, as he says in another psalm. With the froward he will wrestle; and those with whom God wrestles are sure to be foiled. Woe unto him that strives with his Maker! God will walk contrary to those that walk contrary to him and be displeased with those that are displeased with him. As for the haughty, his eyes are upon them, marking them out, as it were, to be brought down; for he resists the proud.

2. For himself. He foresaw that his conquests and kingdom would be yet further enlarged, Sa2 22:45, Sa2 22:46. Even the sons of the stranger, that would hear the report of his victories and the tokens of God's presence with him, would be possessed with a fear of him, would be forced to submit to him, though feignedly, and would be obedient to him. The successes which he had had he looked upon as earnests of more and means of more. Who durst oppose him by whom so many had been overcome? Thus the Son of David goes on conquering and to conquer, Rev 6:2. His gospel, which has been victorious, shall be so more and more.

3. For his seed: He showeth mercy to his Messiah (Sa2 22:51), not only to David himself, but to that seed of his for evermore. David was himself anointed of God, not a usurper, but duly called to the government and qualified for it; therefore he doubted not but God would show mercy to him, that mercy which he had promised not to take from him nor from his posterity (Sa2 7:15, Sa2 7:16); on that promise he depends, with an eye to Christ, who alone is his seed for evermore, whose throne and kingdom still continue, and will to the end, whereas the seed and lineage of David are long since extinct. See Psa 89:28, Psa 89:29. Thus all his joys and all his hopes terminate, as ours should, in the great Redeemer.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Sa_22:2-3

The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress.

God our Rock

A great mountain lifts itself up, with perpendicular face, over against some quiet valley; and when summer thunders with great storms, the cliff echoes the thunder, and rolls it forth a second time, with majesty increased; and we think that, to be sublime, storms should awaken mountain echoes, and that then cause and effect are worthy of each other. But so, too, an oriole, or a song-sparrow, singing before it, hears its own little song sung back again. A little child, lost and crying in the valley, hears the great cliff weeping just as it weeps; and, in sooth, the mountains repeats whatever is sounded, from the sublimest notes of the tempest to the sweetest bird-whisper or child-weeping; and it is just as easy to do the little as the great, and more beautiful. Now God is our rock, and from His heart is inflected every experience, every feeling of joy or grief that any human soul utters or knows. (H. W. Beecher.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sa2 22:2-4 form the introduction.

2 Jehovah is my rock, my castle, and my deliverer to me;

3 My Rock-God, in whom I trust:

My shield and horn of my salvation, my fortress and my refuge,

My Saviour; from violence Thou redeemest me.

4 I call upon the praised one, Jehovah,

And I am saved from my enemies.

This introduction contains the sum and substance of the whole psalm, inasmuch as David groups the many experiences of divine deliverance in his agitated life into a long series of predicates, in all of which he extols God as his defence, refuge, and deliverer. The heaping up of these predicates is an expression both of liveliest gratitude, and also of hope for the future. The different predicates, however, are not to be taken as in apposition to Jehovah, or as vocatives, but are declarations concerning God, how He had proved himself faithful to the Psalmist in all the calamities of his life, and would assuredly do so still. David calls God וּמצרתי סלעי (my rock, and my castle) in Psa 31:4 as well (cf. Psa 71:4). The two epithets are borrowed from the natural character of Palestine, where steep and almost inaccessible rocks afford protection to the fugitive, as David had often found at the time when Saul was pursuing him (vid., Sa1 24:22; Sa1 22:5). But whilst David took refuge in rocks, he placed his hopes of safety not in their inaccessible character, but in God the Lord, the eternal spiritual rock, whom he could see in the earthly rock, so that he called Him his true castle. לי מפלטי (my deliverer to me) gives the real explanation of the foregoing figures. The לי (to me) is omitted in Psa 18:2, and only serves to strengthen the suffix, "my, yea my deliverer.' "My Rock-God," equivalent to, God who is my Rock: this is formed after Deu 32:4, where Moses calls the Lord the Rock of Israel, because of His unchangeable faithfulness; for zur, a rock, is a figure used to represent immoveable firmness. In Psa 18:3 we find צוּרי אלי, "my God" (strong one), "my rock," two synonyms which are joined together in our text, so as to form one single predicate of God, which is repeated in Sa2 22:47. The predicates which follow, "my horn and my salvation-shield," describe God as the mighty protector and defender of the righteous. A shield covers against hostile attacks. In this respect God was Abraham's shield (Gen 15:1), and the helping shield of Israel (Deu 33:29; cf. Psa 3:4; Psa 59:12). He is the "horn of salvation," according to Luther, because He overcomes enemies, and rescues from foes, and gives salvation. The figure is borrowed from animals, which have their strength and defensive weapons in their horns (see at Sa1 2:1). "My fortress:" misgab is a high place, where a person is secure against hostile attacks (see at Psa 9:10). The predicates which follow, viz., my refuge, etc., are not given in Psa 18:3, and are probably only added as a rhythmical completion to the strophe, which was shortened by the omission of the introductory lines, "I love thee heartily, Jehovah" (Psa 18:1). The last clause, "My Saviour, who redeemest me from violence," corresponds to אחסה־בּו in the first hemistich. In Psa 18:4, David sums up the contents of his psalm of thanksgiving in a general sentence of experience, which may be called the theme of the psalm, for it embraces "the result of the long life which lay behind him, so full of dangers and deliverances." מהלּל, "the praised one," an epithet applied to God, which occurs several times in the Psalms (Psa 48:2; Psa 96:4; Psa 113:3; Psa 145:3). It is in apposition to Jehovah, and is placed first for the sake of emphasis: "I invoke Jehovah as the praised one." The imperfects אקרא and אוּשׁע are used to denote what continually happens. In Sa2 22:5 we have the commencement of the account of the deliverances out of great tribulations, which David had experienced at the hand of God.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

22:2 Hannah had said, “there is no Rock like our God” (1 Sam 2:2), while David said, the Lord is my rock, which recalls God’s rescue of David from Saul at the Rock of Escape (1 Sam 23:28). The Hebrew word translated “rock” in 22:3 (different from 22:2) refers in 1 Sam 24:2 to “the rocks of the wild goats,” where Saul suspected that David was hiding. • fortress: The same word referred to David’s physical “stronghold” (1 Sam 22:4), where David and his men sought refuge from Saul.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

By the diversity of these comfortable means, he showeth how his faith was strengthened in all tentations.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(2) He said.—The psalm here wants the opening line of Psalms 18, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength,” forming a fitting introduction to the whole.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2–4. Introductory invocation of Jehovah

2. The Lord is my rock] The opening address to God, found in Psalms 18, “Fervently do I love thee O Jehovah my strength,” is wanting here.

2, 3. The imagery, by which David describes so emphatically all that Jehovah had been to him as a Deliverer from his enemies, is derived from the experiences of his warlike life, and particularly of his flight from Saul. The cliff (1Sa_23:25; 1Sa_23:28) where he had escaped from Saul, the strong-hold in the wilderness of Judah or the fastnesses of Engedi (1Sa_23:14; 1Sa_23:19; 1Sa_23:29), “the rocks of the wild goats” (1Sa_24:2), were all emblems of Him who had been throughout his true Refuge and Deliverer.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2. Rock… fortress… place of refuge — The poet uses a profusion of metaphors in order to extol most gratefully that Divine Goodness and Power to whom he owes all his salvation. The rocks and strongholds of his native land, which sheltered and defended him so often when persecuted by Saul, furnish appropriate imagery for his song, and forcibly represent that Divine Spiritual Rock who was David’s fortress and hiding-place in his darkest times of trial.

Even mine — This addition intensifies the thought of David’s personal realization of the mercies received from his God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 2-4.

Jehovah is my Cliff and my Stronghold and my Deliverer: The God of my rock, in whom I take refuge; My Shield and the Horn of my salvation, My Fastness and my Place of refuge: My Saviour: thou savest me from violence. I call upon Jehovah, the praised One, And I am saved from my enemies.

The Syriac in ver. 2 inserts, "Fervently do I love thee, Jehovah my Strength;" but it probably only borrows the words from Psa_18:1. For we may well believe that it was at a later period of his life, after deeper and more heart searching trials, that David thus felt his love to Jehovah only strengthened and made more necessary to him by the loss of his earthly happiness. In ver. 3, The God of my rock is changed in Psa_18:2 into "My God my Rock" (Authorized Version, "strength") probably an intentional alteration, as being far less rugged and startling than this bold metaphor of the Deity being his rock"s God. In the original the words present each its distinct idea. Thus in ver. 2 the rock is a high cliff or precipice. It is the word sela, which gave its name to the crag city of Idumea. Fortress really means a rock, difficult of access, and forming a secure retreat. It is entirely a natural formation, and not a building. In ver. 3 rock is a vast mountainous mass, (Job_18:4) and, as it suggests the ideas of grandeur and immovable might, it is often used for God"s glory as being the Strength and Protection of his people. (Deu_32:15; Isa_30:29, margin) Next follow two ordinary metaphors, the shield for defence, and the horn for attack; after which David, who had so often sought safety among the cliffs and fastnesses of the mountains, returns to the same circle of thoughts, and calls God his High Tower, the word signifying, not a building, but a height, a lofty natural stronghold; and finally his Refuge, a place of safe retreat among the mountains. This and the rest of the verse are omitted in Psa_18:2. In ver. 4 the words are as literally translated above, and signify, "Whenever call, I am saved." In all times of difficulty, prayer brings immediate deliverance.

HOMILIES BY G. WOOD Vers. 2-4.

God the Refuge and Deliverer.

The psalm was composed as a thanksgiving for the safety and deliverances David had experienced when Saul so persistently sought to destroy him, and afterwards in the wars with the house of Saul, and with the heathen tribes that set themselves against him. It appears to belong to an earlier period than the place it occupies in the book would indicate. It is scarcely possible that David could have asserted his uprightness and innocence in the strong terms of vers. 21-25 after his great sins. These verses form the introduction to the psalm, and express in emphatic language the safety and salvation which David had found in God. The Christian may use the words of the similar perils to which he is exposed, and of others not immediately in the psalmist"s view.

I THE DANGERS TO WHICH WE ARE EXPOSED. Bodily, mental, spiritual. To reputation. From our own constitutional tendencies. From diseases and accidents. From the malice of men, and their favour. From prosperity and adversity. From solitude and society. From labours, rest, and pleasures. From Satan and his angels. From the broken Law and injured justice of God. Always and everywhere, under all circumstances and conditions, we are all exposed to perils.

II THE SAFETY AND DELIVERANCE TO BE FOUND IN GOD. The psalmist labours to express his sense of the protection, safety, and deliverance which God had vouchssfed to him, yea, which God himself had been to him. The imagery he uses is taken chiefly from natural features of Palestine, with which he had become especially familiar as affording refuge and safety during the time that he was hunted by Saul. He calls him "my Rock," in the heights and recesses of which he had been safe from his foes; "my Fortress," his fortified castle, too high to be reached, too strong to be broken into; "my Deliverer," by whose aid he had escaped from many a peril; "the God of my Rock," equivalent to "my mighty God;" "my Shield and the Horn of my salvation," at once protecting him in battle and pushing his enemies to their destruction; "my high Tower," or lofty Retreat; "my Refuge and my Saviour." What the Almighty was to David he is to all his people. We may use similar language. Our dangers may not be so fearful in appearance, or so numerous, or so obvious; but they are as real and serious. And our safety and deliverance must come from "the Lord." The words of the text show that it is not only what he employs for our good, nor what he himself does, but what he is, that assures of safety. Not only does he afford protection and secure deliverance; he is our Protector and Deliverer. In his almightiness, love, knowledge, wisdom, universal presence, observation, and operation, we realize salvation. In Jesus Christ, his very righteousness has become our friend, and assures us of victory. The safety thus assured is not absolute immunity from trouble, but protection from the evil it might produce, and change of its character. The righteous are visited with calamities similar to those which befall the wicked, and in some conditions of society with calamities peculiar to themselves. But in their ease they lose their unfriendly character, and become visitations of a Father"s love, means of deliverance from worse evils, and of obtaining greater good. The evil which they might do God will defend us from, if we trust and obey him. Nor are the righteous sure of absolute preservation from sin, though they would enjoy perfect immunity if they fulfilled the necessary conditions on their part. But they have a right to feel sure of preservation of" body and soul in this world, until their appointed work is done; and of final deliverance from all evils. (2Ti_4:18) They should not desire more.

III THE CONDITIONS OF SAFETY AND DELIVERANCE.

1. Faith. "In him will I trust" (ver. 3). Confidence in God as our Friend, Protector, and Saviour. Especially as he is revealed to us in the gospel. Faith assures us of the Divine love, lays hold of the Divine strength, enables us to flee to God as our Refuge, to rise to the lofty Rock and Tower where we are above all adverse powers, and safe from their assaults, and gives the calmness needful for employing such means as tend to safety and victory. "All things are possible to him that believeth". (Mar_9:23)

2. Prayer. "I will call on the Lord...so shall I be saved from mine enemies" (ver. 4). Faith prompts obedience, as in other respects, so in respect to prayer. Divine help and protection are promised to those who pray. "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify (Psa_50:15) The sense of peril, the knowledge that there is safety in God, and that his delivering power is exercised on behalf of those who seek him, cannot but lead the Christian to that earnest and believing prayer which prevails. The Apostle Paul, after pointing out other methods of ensuring victory over our enemies, adds, "Praying always," etc. (Eph_6:18)

IV THE RETURN TO BE MADE FOR SAFETY AND DELIVERANCE REALIZED, AND ANTICIPATED. Praise. This psalm is one of the returns of praise which David made to his Deliverer, of whom he speaks in ver. 4 as "the Lord who is worthy to be praised." Many are ready to pray to God in danger, who forget or refuse to praise him when they have experienced deliverance. The Christian will not fail to give thanks, not only for what he has experienced of Divine protection, but for what he feels sure he shall experience, up to and including victory over death itself, "the last enemy," in view of whose approach he sings, "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". G.W. (1Co_15:26, 1Co_15:57)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My Rock, my Fortress. They are words denoting strength. Rock is obvious in its connotation [of strengh]. Fortress is [a reference to] a fortress amongst the forests that is called flassant in O.F. It is [also] a reference to the miracle that occurred by the rock at the crossroads and the fortresses of the forest.

My Rescuer. He saved me when I was with Yisroel's army at war and other times He saved me when I was alone for example [He saved me] from (the inhabitants of Nov)[“Yishbi-Benov”].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.