Psalms 18:17

Psa 18:17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

Ver. 17. He delivered me from my strong enemy] Saul; this he oft instanceth, rolling it as sugar under his tongue, and turning aside often to look upon it, as Samson did to see his dead lion fetching honey out of it.

For they were too strong for me] And then God’s help was most seasonable when David found himself outmatched.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. (Psa 18:17). He will free me from my enemy (because he is) strong, and from my haters, because they are mightier than I. The futures are to be explained as in the verse preceding. The enemy here mentioned is an ideal person, representing a whole class, of whom Saul was the chief representative. The idiomatic phrase, my enemy strong, may be understood as simply meaning my strong enemy; but the true construction seems to be indicated by the parallelism. His own weakness and the power of his enemies is given as a reason for the divine interposition.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore God sent me succor.

To wit, Saul.

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

Verse 17. He delivered me from my strong enemy] Does not this refer to his conflict with Ishbi-benob? "And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant-thought to have slain David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel;" 2Sa 21:16-17. It appears that at this time he was in the most imminent danger of his life, and that he must have fallen by the hands of the giant, if God had not sent Abishai to his assistance. They were too strong for me. He was nearly overpowered by the Philistines; and his escape was such as evidently to show it to be supernatural.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Figures are dropped, and David refers explicitly to his deliverance from his ‘strong’ or ‘fierce’ enemy Saul, and Saul’s partisans who hated him, from whom but for this Divine intervention he could not have escaped, for they were too mighty for him.

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.

They prevented me in the day of my calamity,.... Referring to the times of his distress in the garden and upon the cross; the time of his sufferings and death, which was a dark and cloudy day, as the word (x) used suggests, both in a literal and in a spiritual sense; and when the day and hour was come, fixed and determined by the will of God, then his enemies, though not before, met him, laid hold on him, were too mighty for him, condemned, crucified, and insulted him;

but the Lord was my stay; or staff, on whom he leaned, relied, and depended, believing he would help him; and by whom he was supported and upheld, Isa 42:1. The Targum is,

"the Word of the Lord was my stay.''

(x) "in the day of my cloudy calamity", Ainsworth; "nomen" "proprie signifient vaporem vel nubem, ut Gen. vii. 6. hinc per metaphoram transfertur ad obscuras ac terrificas calamitatum nebulas, Prov. i. 26.", Gejerus.

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

He delivered me from my strong enemy - The enemy that had more power than I had, and that was likely to overcome me. It is probable that the allusion here in the mind of the psalmist would be particularly to Saul.

And from them which hated me - From all who hated and persecuted me, in the time of Saul, and ever onward during my life.

For they were too strong for me - I had no power to resist them, and when I was about to sink under their opposition and malice, God interposed and rescued me. David, valiant and bold as he was as a warrior, was not ashamed, in the review of his life, to admit that he owed his preservation not to his own courage and skill in war, but to God; that his enemies were superior to himself in power; and that if God had not interposed he would have been crushed and destroyed. No man dishonors himself by acknowledging that he owes his success in the world to the divine interposition.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

From them that wanted neither malice nor power.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 17. When we have been rescued, we must take care to ascribe all the glory to God by confessing our own weakness, and remembering the power of the conquered enemy. God's power derives honour from all the incidents of the conflict. Our great spiritual adversary is a "strong enemy" indeed, much too strong for poor, weak creatures like ourselves, but we have been delivered hitherto and shall be even to the end. Our weakness is a reason for divine help; mark the force of the for in the text.

Ver. 17. The saint's paean of victory over Satan, and all other foes.

Ver. 17. (last clause). Singular but sound reason for expecting divine help.

Psalms 18:18*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. My strong enemy—The singular may be taken collectively for all his enemies; or, more probably, as pointing to Saul, who in the title of the psalm holds this distinction.

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

He delivered me from my strong enemy. This is generally understood of Saul. By the defeat of Gilboa, and its consequences, (1Sa_31:1-4) God delivered David from the peril of death which hung over him so long as Saul lived. And from them which hated me. David"s enemies among the courtiers of Saul were powerless without their master. Many, probably, fell in the battle; the rest sank into obscurity. For they were too strong for me. I must have succumbed to them had not God helped me.

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

He sent forth from on high His angels to save Israel from the sea and from the Egyptians.

He drew me out Heb. ימשני, an expression of drawing out, as (in Exod. 2:10), “I drew him out (משיתהו) of the water.”

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.