Churches Midweek Meeting
22/4/20
Psalm 18
This is quite a long
Psalm. I suspect we won’t manage to look at everything in detail. But some
things in this Psalm are probably already pretty familiar to us / common in the
Psalms.
The headings are
(seemingly) original to the Psalms. This one is unusually long and specific.
This Psalm (with a few
minor variations) is also found in 2 Samuel 22, with a similar historical
introduction.
Kidner thinks the Psalm is
most suitable to an early point in David’s reign when his power was at its
greatest (2 Samuel 8:14).
How does the Psalmist
describe God?
What does it mean to call
God my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my shield, the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold? (vv1-2)
What does David consider
himself saved from?
If David wrote this Psalm,
what is the problem with v6?
What might David mean by
God’s temple?
What would the
associations of the temple be?
How is God described in
vv7-15?
How do you feel about
that?
Does God have nostrils?
(v8)
What event does v15
recall?
What sort of person does
God save?
(Again, what is the basis
of the Psalmist’s prayer and appeal to God?)
Cf. vv9-11 and v28
What do you make of v26?
Cf. As innocent as doves
and as shrewd as serpents
What does God enable the
Psalmist to do?
Do you find v41 troubling?
What do we learn (or
relearn) about God from this Psalm?
And how to relate to him?
What in this Psalm would
you say is (at least somewhat) familiar from the other Psalms we have looked
at?
What in this Psalm would
you say is (at least somewhat) distinctive compared the other Psalms we have
looked at?
Can you identify things in
the Psalm you find helpful and encouraging?
Are there things in the
Psalm you find weird or difficult?
Any other comments or
questions about the Psalm?
How would you relate this
Psalm to Jesus?
Calvin says much of this
Psalm “agrees better with Christ” than with David, that is, it would be more
fittingly spoken by Jesus than by King David. Do you agree?
How does Paul use v49 in
Romans 15:9?
How does v50 point towards
Jesus?
Sum up: What true and
useful things does the Psalm teach and how should we respond to them?
Do you feel able to
attempt a theme (and aim) sentence, however imperfectly, even if it doesn’t
perfectly capture everything?
Turn the Psalm into praise
and prayer.
* * *
OUTLINES:
Motyer:
What a Great God!
A1. Devotion to the
saving God (vv1-2)
B1: Divine intervention
(1): Yahweh in power (vv3-19)
Prayer (vv3-6)
Power (vv7-15)
Rescue (vv16-19)
B2: Yahweh in righteousness
(vv20-29)
Reward: Yahweh and me
(vv20-24)
Equity: you and me
(vv25-29)
B3: Yahweh in enabling
(vv30-45)
Perfect: Yahweh and me
(vv30-34)
Victorious: you and me
(vv35-45)
A2: Devotion to the
saving God (vv46-50)
* * *
Kidner:
A Warrior King Looks Back
Vv1-3: Refuge
Vv4-19: Rescue
Vv20-30: “His Perfect Way”
Vv31-45: Victory and Rout
Vv46-50: Doxology
* * *
Wilcock:
I love you, O LORD (vv1-3)
In my distress (vv4-6)
Consuming fire, dark
clouds (vv7-15)
Into a spacious place (vv16-19)
He has rewarded me
(vv20-24)
You save the humble
(vv25-29)
He is the Rock (vv30-34)
You have made me the head
of nations (vv35-45)
Unfailing kindness to his
anointed (vv46-50)
* * *
Expositor’s Bible
Commentary:
Royal Thanksgiving
Chiastic structure with E
– God’s faithfulness to the faithful at the centre (see p201)
Yahweh, the Rock of Israel
(vv1-3)
Affliction (vv4-6)
The Lord’s Coming to help
(vv7-15)
The Lord’s Deliverance
(vv16-19)
God’s faithfulness to the
faithful (vv20-29)
(a) Our faithfulness to
God (vv20-24)
(b) God’s faithfulness to
us (vv25-29)
The Lord’s Goodness
(vv30-45)
(a) The Divine Perfections
(vv30-36)
(b) The King’s Victory
over the Enemies (vv37-42)
(c) Glorious deliverance
(vv43-45)
* * *
NOTES ON THE
PSALM:
V1 – very direct and
personal – not very British! – Kidner says the word for love is unusual,
impulsive and emotional
Vv1&2 – a remarkable
piling up of terms, great emphasis
V2 – Kidner relates cliff
/ rock to 1 Sam 23:25-28; stronghold to the cave of Adullam – 1 Sam 22, 24; 2
Sam 5, 23 – rocks – 1 Sam 24:2
Vv7ff – fire, cloud and
water recall the Exodus / Mount Sinai wrapped in smoke and fire
V7ff – according to 1
Samuel nothing like this obviously happened! God worked quietly and secretly
for the most part but here’s a behind the scenes description of it. God’s
unseen providence can actually work powerful deliverances for us which may not
be obvious. The supposedly natural causes of 1 Samuel 23 and 24 can be seen as
God’s work.
V8 – Judgement of God’s
enemies is salvation for God’s people
V8 – nostrils – the organ
of anger!
Both cosmic and personal –
this God reached down and took hold of me (v16)!
V16 – he draws me up –
only otherwise used of Moses – David and Jesus are like New Moseses!
Vv20-30 – the main concern
is actually to praise God as the protector of those who trust in him (Kidner)
V25 – Hasid, loyalty,
connected to hesed, covenant steadfast love
V26 – perverse – tortuous!
– crooked – twisting – wrestling
Vv27-30 repeatedly “as for
you…” / “it is you who…” – emphasis on God and praise to him
V27 – God loves to save
the humble / poor / weak / defenceless
Cf. the song of Moses in
Dt 32
V50 – Jesus the supreme
offspring of David – cf. Gal 3:16 – the seed of Abraham
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