John Calvin Commentary Psalms 18:33-36

"He maketh my feet like hinds` [feet]: And setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war; So that mine arms do bend a bow of brass. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation; And thy right hand hath holden me up, And thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped." — Psalms 18:33-36 (ASV)

David, having taken many strongholds which, because of their steep and difficult access, were believed to be impregnable, praises the grace of God in this particular. When he says that God had given him feet like hinds’ feet, he means that He had given him unusual swiftness, a swiftness that humans do not naturally possess.

Therefore, the meaning is that he had been aided by God in an extraordinary manner, so that like a roe he climbed with amazing speed over inaccessible rocks. He calls the strongholds, which, as conqueror, he had obtained by right of war, his high places; for he could justly boast that he took possession of nothing that belonged to another man, since he knew that he had been called by God to occupy these fortresses.

When he says that his hands had been taught and trained to war, he confesses that he had not acquired his dexterity in fighting by his own skill, nor by exercise and experience, but had obtained it as a gift through the special goodness of God.

It is true in general that strength and skill in war proceed only from a hidden power communicated by God. However, David immediately afterward shows that he had been provided with greater strength for carrying on his wars than what men commonly possess, since his arms were sufficiently strong to break even bows of brass in pieces.

True, he had by nature a vigorous and powerful bodily frame, but the Scripture describes him as a man of short stature, and the comparison itself which he here uses implies something surpassing the natural strength of man.

In the following verse, he declares that it was by the grace of God alone that he had escaped and been kept in perfect safety: You have also given me the shield of your salvation. By the phrase, the shield of God’s salvation, he suggests that if God had not wonderfully preserved him, he would have been exposed unprotected to many deadly wounds; and thus God’s shield of salvation is tacitly opposed to all the coverings and armor with which he had been provided.

He again ascribes his safety to the free goodness of God as its cause, which he says had increased him, or more and more carried him forward in the path of honor and success; for, by the word increase, he means a continuation and an uninterrupted and ever-growing growth of the tokens of the divine favor towards him.

By the enlargement of his steps, he suggests that God had opened up for him a level and accommodating pathway through places that were previously inaccessible; for there is in the words an implied contrast between a large and spacious place and a narrow spot, from which a person cannot move their foot.

The meaning is that when David was reduced to the greatest distress and saw no way of escape, God had graciously brought him out of his straits and difficulties. This is a lesson that may be highly useful for correcting our distrust. Unless we see before us a beautiful and pleasant plain, in which the flesh may freely enjoy itself, we tremble as if the earth would sink under our feet.

Let us, therefore, remember that the role of enlarging our ways and making them level belongs to God, and is here justly ascribed to Him. In short, the Psalmist adds the effect of this instance of the grace of God towards him, namely, that his feet had not staggered or slipped; in other words, no resistance, adversity, or calamity that had befallen him had been able to deprive him of courage or cast him into despair.