Psalms 18:42

Psa 18:42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

Ver. 42. Then did I beat them as small as the dust] When God once withdraws his protection and help from a people it is an easy matter to tread them down and beat them in pieces. Lay hold upon him, therefore, as the Church did, and hang on. Say, as Jer 14:21, Do not abhor us for thy name’s sake; for as Bodin said well of obtaining, so for retaining, religion and civil rights, Non disputationibus, sed rogationibus agendum, prayer is most prevalent. If once our shadow depart, &c., woe be unto them when I depart from them.

I did cast them out, &c.] Evacuabam eos, I dealt by them as men do by the sweepings of the house, or noisome excrements. God sometimes dungeth his vineyard with the dead bodies of his enemies.

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.

43. (Psa 18:42). And I shall beat them small as dust before the wind, as dirt in the streets I will pour them out. The comparisons in this verse are intended to express the Psalmist's superiority to his enemies, his consequent contempt for them, and the facility with which he will destroy them. Similar images are not unfrequent in the Old Testament. See for example Isa 10:6, Zep 1:17. Zec 10:5.

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

This conquest was complete.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 42. Then did l beat them] God was with him, and they had only an arm of flesh. No wonder then that his enemies were destroyed.

Small as the dust before the wind] This well expresses the manner in which he treated the Moabites, Ammonites, and the people of Rabbah: "He put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron; and made them pass through the brick-kiln," c. See 2Sa 12:31, and the notes there.

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

(42) Before the wind.—In Samuel, the weaker “of the earth.”

Cast them out—i.e., sweep them before me. In Samuel “stamp and tread them out.” So LXX. here “grind,” or “pound.”

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

42. Two figures are combined to express the annihilation of David’s enemies. They were, as it were, pounded to dust (2Ki_13:7), and then scattered like that dust driven before the wind. Cp. Isa_29:5; Isa_41:2. 2 Sam. reads only “as the dust of the earth.”

I did cast them out &c.] Flung them away as worthless refuse (Zep_1:17). But the mire of the streets is usually spoken of as trampled under foot (Isa_10:6; Mic_7:10; Zec_10:5), and it suits the parallelism better to read with the LXX and 2 Sam., I did stamp them (Mic_4:13). The variation is again due to the confusion of similar letters (ארקם—אדקם). The addition at the end of the verse in 2 Sam., “and did spread them abroad,” is probably a gloss.

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.

Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people,.... In Sa2 22:44, it is read "my people", meaning the people of Israel; either Saul and his men, who contended with David, and sought his life; or rather the tribes of Israel, who, after Saul's death, refused to acknowledge David as their king, but afterwards came and anointed him in Hebron. The words may very well be interpreted of the contentions of the Scribes and Pharisees with Christ, and of the opposition from sinners, which he for a while endured, but is now delivered from them all;

and thou hast made me the head of the Heathen; which, if understood of David, refers to the Philistines, Syrians, Moabites, and Edomites, being subdued by him, and becoming tributaries to him, Sa2 8:1. But it best agrees with Christ, who is the head of his chosen ones among the Gentiles; the political head, King, and Governor of them, the Heathen being given him for his inheritance and possession; and which appeared in the first ages of Christianity, when the Gospel was first preached to the Gentiles by the apostles; and still continues, and will be more clearly seen in the latter day, when the Lord shall be King over all the earth. Christ was made the head of the Heathen, by the appointment and designation of his Father; and, in fact, was so when multitudes from among the Gentiles were converted and brought to the obedience of him. In Sa2 22:44 it is, "thou hast kept me to be head of the Heathen"; which does not seem so much to intend the designation and constitution of him as such, but the continuation of him; and denotes the stability of his government in the Gentile world, of which there will be no end;

a people whom I have not known shall serve me; by whom are meant the Gentiles, who were not the people of God, were without Christ and without God, and without hope in the world: not that there are any people that can be unknown to Christ, as he is the omniscient God; nor were these unknown to him, in such sense as reprobates, nominal professors, and foolish virgins, are said not to be known by him, Mat 7:23. For these people among the Heathen, who are or shall be brought to serve the Lord, are such who were the objects of his love and delight from everlasting; were in his Father's choice and in his own, and in the gift of his Father to him, and in the covenant of his grace; and therefore must be known by him; moreover, they are the purchase of his blood; and the sheep he knows, for whom he has laid down his life, and of whom he has such an exact and particular knowledge, that he can and does call them by name. But the sense is, these seemed not to be taken notice of and cared for by Christ; they were not owned and acknowledged by him as his people; the Jews were distinguished from all others; they only had the law, the word of God, and his ordinances; the Gentiles were suffered to walk in their own ways; they were neglected, and the times of their ignorance were overlooked and disregarded; so that they were treated as a people that were not known for many hundreds of years: but here it is predicted, that when the Gospel should come among them, and they be called by it, they should "serve" the Lord in righteousness and true holiness, with reverence and godly fear, from a principle of love, in his name and strength, and to his glory; see Isa 55:4.

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

Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind - As the fine dust is driven by the wind, so they fled before me. There could be no more striking illustration of a defeated army flying before a conqueror. DeWette says correctly that the idea is, “I beat them small, and scattered them as dust before the wind.”

I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets - In the corresponding place in 2Sa 22:43, this is, “I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.” The idea in the place before us is, that he poured them out, for so the Hebrew word means, as the dirt or mire in the streets. As that is trodden on, or trampled down, so they, instead of being marshalled for battle, were wholly disorganized, scattered, and left to be trodden down, as the most worthless object is. A similar image occurs in Isa 10:6, where God is speaking of Sennacherib: “I will send him against an hypocritical nation ... to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”

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

Or, rid them away, as dirt is usually swept or carried out of houses or streets. Or, tread them down, or bruise them, as men do dirt when they walk in the streets.

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

Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind. (comp. Psa_35:5) The enemy were beaten and dispersed so that they seemed driven as dust before the wind. I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. They were made no account of, treated with as little ceremony as the clay in the streets. Language of utter contempt.

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

They pray to their idols.

but no one saves them Because it [their prayer] has no power, and they return and call upon the Lord, but He does not answer them.

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.