John Calvin Commentary Psalms 18:43

"Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; Thou hast made me the head of the nations: A people whom I have not known shall serve me." — Psalms 18:43 (ASV)

Thou shalt deliver me from the contentions of the people. David states, in a few words, that he had experienced the assistance of God in all variety of ways. He was in great danger from the tumults which sometimes arose among his own subjects, if God had not wonderfully calmed them and subdued the fierceness of the people.

It also happened, contrary to general expectation, that David, as is stated in the second clause of the verse, was victorious far and wide, and overthrew the neighboring nations who had shortly before defeated all Israel by their forces. It was an astonishing renewal of things when he not only suddenly restored to their former state the people of Israel, who had been greatly reduced by defeat and slaughter, but also made his tributaries the neighboring nations, with whom before, on account of their hostility to the nation of Israel, it was impossible to live in peace.

It would have been a great thing to see the kingdom, after having sustained such a grievous calamity, still surviving and, after having regained strength, recovering its former state. But God, contrary to all expectation, bestowed upon the people of Israel more than this: He enabled them even to subdue those who before had been their conquerors.

David makes mention of both these. He tells us, first, that when the people rose up in tumult against him, it was God alone who stilled these commotions which took place within the kingdom.

Second, it was under the authority, guidance, and power of God that powerful nations were subjected to him, and that the limits of the kingdom—which, in the time of Saul, had been weak and greatly weakened—were significantly enlarged.

Thus, it is clear that David was assisted by God as much in his domestic affairs—that is to say, within his own kingdom—as against foreign enemies. Since the kingdom of David was a type by which the Holy Spirit intended to foreshadow for us the kingdom of Christ, let us remember that in both establishing and preserving it, God must not only extend His arm to fight against open enemies who rise up against Him from outside, but also repress the tumults and strifes that may occur within the Church.

This was clearly shown in the person of Christ from the beginning. First, He met with much opposition from the infatuated obstinacy of those of His own nation.

Second, the experience of all ages shows that the dissensions and strifes with which hypocrites rend and mangle the Church are no less harmful in undermining the kingdom of Christ—if God does not intervene to prevent their injurious effects—than the violent efforts of His enemies.

Accordingly, God, to advance and maintain the kingdom of His own Son, not only overthrows external enemies before Him but also delivers Him from domestic contentions—that is to say, from those within His kingdom, which is the Church.

In the song in 2 Samuel, instead of these words, Thou hast made me the head of the nations, the word employed is תשמרני, tishmereni, which signifies to keep or guard. It is therefore to be understood in this sense: that David will be securely, and for a long time, maintained in possession of the kingdom.

He knew how difficult it is to keep under discipline and subjection those who have not been accustomed to the yoke. Accordingly, it is very common for kingdoms that have been recently acquired by conquest to be shaken with new commotions. But David, in the song in Samuel, declares that God, having elevated him to such a high degree of power as to make him the head of the nations, will also maintain him in the possession of the sovereignty He had been pleased to bestow upon him.

A people whom I have not known shall serve me. This whole passage strongly confirms what I have just mentioned: that the statements made here are not to be restricted to the person of David but contain a prophecy respecting the kingdom of Christ that was to come.

David, it is true, might have boasted that nations with whose manners and dispositions he was only very imperfectly acquainted were subject to him. However, it is nevertheless certain that none of the nations he conquered were altogether unknown to him, nor were they so distant as to make it difficult for him to acquire some knowledge of them.

The conquests of David, therefore, and the submission of the people to him, were only an obscure figure in which God has shown us some faint representation of the boundless dominion of His own Son, whose kingdom extends

from the rising of the sun,
even unto the going down of the same,
(Malachi 1:11)