John Gill Commentary Psalms 18

I will love you, O Lord, my strength .
] These words are not in twenty second chapter of Second Samuel: the psalm there begins with (Psalms 18:2). The psalmist here expresses his love to the Lord, and his continuance in it; that Jehovah the Father was, is, and ever will be the object of Christ's love, is certain; and which has appeared by his readiness in the council and covenant of grace to do his will; by his coming down from heaven to earth for that purpose; by his delight in it, it being his meat and drink to do it; and by his sufferings and death, which were in compliance with, and obedience to it, (John 14:31).

And as in David, so in all regenerate ones, there is love to God; Jehovah is loved by them in all his persons; Jehovah the Father is loved, and to be loved, for the perfections of his nature, because of the works of his hands, of creation and providence; and particularly because of his works of special grace and goodness, and especially because of his love wherewith he has loved his people, (1 John 4:19). Jehovah the Son is loved, and to be loved, above all creatures and things whatever, sincerely and heartily, fervently and constantly; because of the loveliness of his person, the love of his heart, and his works of grace and redemption; all of him is lovely; and he is to be loved, and is loved, in his person, offices, relations, people, word, and ordinances: Jehovah the Spirit is loved, and to be loved, because of his person and perfections, and operations of grace; as a sanctifier, comforter, the spirit of adoption, the earnest and pledge of eternal glory.

The word here used signifies the most intimate, tender, and affectionate love; it often designs mercy and bowels of mercy; so Aben Ezra interprets it of seeking mercy of God: the reasons are as follow in this verse and (Psalms 18:2): because "the Lord is my strength".

So he was to Christ as man, who as such was the man of his right hand, the Son of Man, whom he made strong for himself, to do his work, and for his glory, (Psalms 80:17); he promised to strengthen him, and he did, (Psalms 89:21) (Isaiah 42:1) (49:8).

And so he is the strength of all his saints, even Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit; he is the strength of their hearts both in life and at death; he is the strength of their graces, who strengthens that which he has wrought for them, and in them; he strengthens them to do their duty, to bear the cross, and every affliction, and against every enemy of their souls; and this renders him very lovely and amiable to them.

The Lord [is] my rock
To whom the saints have recourse for shelter and safety, for supply, support, and divine refreshment; and in whom they are secure, and on whom they build their hopes of eternal life and happiness, and so are safe from all enemies, and from all danger. Christ is called a Rock on all these accounts, (Psalms 61:2Psalms 61:3) (Isaiah 32:2) (33:16) (Matthew 16:18) (1 Corinthians 10:4) ;

and my fortress ;
or garrison; so the saints are kept in and by the power of God as in a garrison, (1 Peter 1:5) ;

and my deliverer :
out of all afflictions, and from all temptations, and out of the hands of all enemies; from a body of sin and death at last, and from wrath to come;

my God ;
the strong and mighty One, who is able to save, and who is the covenant God and Father of his people;

my strength, in whom I will trust ;
as Christ did, and to whom these words are applied in (Hebrews 2:13) ; and as his people are enabled to do even under very distressing and discouraging circumstances, (Job 13:15) (Isaiah 26:4) ;

my buckler ;
or shield; who protects and defends them from their enemies, and preserves them from the fiery darts of Satan;

and the horn of my salvation ;
who pushes, scatters, and destroys their enemies, and saves them; a metaphor taken from horned beasts; so Christ, the mighty and able Saviour, is called, (Luke 1:69) ;

[and] my high tower ;
such is the name of the Lord, where the righteous run and are safe, (Proverbs 18:10) ; and where they are above and out of the reach of every enemy; see (Isaiah 33:16) ; in (2 Samuel 22:3) , it is added, "and my refuge, my Saviour, thou savest me from violence". These various epithets show the fulness of safety in Jehovah, the various ways he has to deliver his people from their enemies, and secure them from danger; and the psalmist beholding and claiming his interest in him under all these characters, rendered him exceeding lovely and delightful to him; and each of them contain a reason why he loved him, and why, in the strength of grace, he determined to love him. God may be regarded in all these characters by Christ as man.

I will call upon the Lord
In prayer, for fresh mercies, and further appearances of himself, and discoveries of his grace and favour;

[who is worthy] to be praised ;
for the perfections of his nature, the works of his hands, his providential goodness, and more especially for his covenant grace and blessings in Christ. The Targum is, "in praise, or with an hymn, I pray before the Lord;" agreeably to the rule the apostle gives, (Philippians 4:6); and this prayer was a prayer of faith, as follows;

so shall I be saved from mine enemies :
which was founded upon past experience of God's goodness to him in distress, when he called upon him, as the next words show.

The sorrows of death compassed me
These words and the following, in this verse and (Psalms 18:5), as they respect David, show the snares that were laid for his life, the danger of death he was in, and the anxiety of mind he was possessed of on account of it; and as they refer to Christ, include all the sorrows of his life to the time of his death, who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief personally, and bore and carried the sorrows and griefs of all his people; and may chiefly intend his sorrows in the garden, arising from a view of the sins of his people, which he was about to bear upon the cross; and from an apprehension of the wrath of God, and curse of the law, which he was going to sustain for them, when his soul was (perilupov), encompassed about with sorrow, even unto death, (Matthew 26:38); when his sorrow was so great, and lay so heavy upon him, that it almost pressed him down to death, he could scarce live under it; and may also take in the very pains and agonies of death; he dying the death of the cross, which was a very painful and excruciating one; see (Psalms 22:14–17).

The Hebrew word for "sorrows" signifies the pains and birth throes of a woman in travail; and is here fitly used of the sufferings and death of Christ; through which he brought forth much fruit, or many sons to glory. The Targum is, ``distress has encompassed me, as a woman that sits upon the stool, and has no strength to bring forth, and is in danger of dying.''

In (2 Samuel 22:5), it is "the waves" or "breakers of death compassed me"; and the word there used is rendered in (Hosea 13:13); "the breaking forth of children"; moreover the same word signifies "cords"^F18, as well as pains and sorrows; and the allusion may be to malefactors being bound with cords when led to execution, and put to death; and may here signify the power of death, under which the Messiah was held for a while, but was loosed from it at his resurrection; to which sense of the word, and to the words here, the Apostle Peter manifestly refers, (Acts 2:24).

and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;
meaning either the multitude of them, as Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Roman soldiers, and people of the Jews, who all gathered together against him; so the Targum renders it, "a company of wicked men"; or the variety of sufferings he endured by them; as spitting upon, buffering, scourging, &c. The word rendered "ungodly men [is] Belial"; and signifies vain, worthless, and unprofitable men; men of no figure or account; or lawless ones, such as have cast off the yoke of the law, are not subject to it; persons very wicked and profligate. The word in the New Testament seems to be used for Satan, (2 Corinthians 6:15); where it is so rendered in the Syriac version, and he may be designed here;

and by the floods of Belial may be meant, not so much the temptations of Satan in the wilderness, as his violent and impetuous attacks upon Christ in the garden, when being in an agony or conflict with him, his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, (Luke 22:44). The Septuagint render the word, "the torrents of iniquity troubled me"; which was true of Christ, when all the sins of his people came flowing in upon him, like mighty torrents, from all quarters; when God laid on him the iniquity of them all, and he was made sin for them; and in a view of all this "he began to be sore amazed", (Mark 14:33); compare with this (Psalms 69:1Psalms 69:2). Arama interprets Belial of the evil imagination in David, who had a war in himself.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (twm ylbx) "funes mortis", Musculus, Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth, Hammond.

The sorrows of hell compassed me about
Or "the cords of the grave" ^F19 , under the power of which he was detained for awhile; the allusion may be to the manner of burying among the Jews, who wound up their dead bodies in linen clothes; so that they were as persons bound hand and foot; and thus were they laid in the grave; see (John 11:44) ; and so was Christ, till he was raised from the dead, when he showed himself to have the keys of hell and death, and to be no more under their power, or be held by them;

the snares of death prevented me ;
or "met" or "got before me" ^F20 the sense is, he was taken in them: this phrase designs the insidious ways and methods which the enemies of Christ took to ensnare him, and take away his life, and in which they succeeded; see (Matthew 26:4) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: (lwav ylbx) "funes sepulchri", Musculus, Gejerus.
• F20: (ynwmdq) "praeoccupaverunt me", V. L. "anteverterunt me", Vatablus; "occurrerunt", Cocceius.