Salmos 18

Al director musical. De David, siervo del SEÑOR. David dedicó al SEÑOR la letra de esta canción cuando el SEÑOR lo libró de Saúl y de todos sus enemigos. Dijo así:

1 ¡Cuánto te amo, SEÑOR, fuerza mía!

2 El SEÑOR es mi roca, mi amparo, mi libertador;es mi Dios, el peñasco en que me refugio.Es mi escudo, el poder que me salva,^[a]¡mi más alto escondite!

3 Invoco al SEÑOR, que es digno de alabanza,y quedo a salvo de mis enemigos.

4 Los lazos de la muerte me envolvieron;los torrentes destructores me abrumaron.

5 Me enredaron los lazos del sepulcro,y me encontré ante las trampas de la muerte.

6 En mi angustia invoqué al SEÑOR;clamé a mi Dios,y él me escuchó desde su templo;¡mi clamor llegó a sus oídos!

7 La tierra tembló, se estremeció;se sacudieron los cimientos de los montes;¡retemblaron a causa de su enojo!

8 Por la nariz echaba humo,por la boca, fuego consumidor;¡lanzaba carbones encendidos!

9 Rasgando el cielo, descendió,pisando sobre oscuros nubarrones.

10 Montando sobre un querubín, surcó los cielosy se remontó sobre las alas del viento.

11 Hizo de las tinieblas su escondite,de los oscuros y cargados nubarronesun pabellón que lo rodeaba.

12 De su radiante presencia brotaron nubes,granizos y carbones encendidos.

13 En el cielo, entre granizos y carbones encendidos,se oyó el trueno del SEÑOR,resonó la voz del Altísimo.

14 Lanzó sus flechas, sus grandes centellas;dispersó a mis enemigos y los puso en fuga.

15 A causa de tu reprensión, oh SEÑOR,y por el resoplido de tu enojo,^[b]las cuencas del mar quedaron a la vista;¡al descubierto quedaron los cimientos de la tierra!

16 Extendiendo su mano desde lo alto,tomó la mía y me sacó del mar profundo.

17 Me libró de mi enemigo poderoso,y de aquellos que me odiabany eran más fuertes que yo.

18 En el día de mi desgracia me salieron al encuentro,pero mi apoyo fue el SEÑOR.

19 Me sacó a un amplio espacio;me libró porque se agradó de mí.

20 El SEÑOR me ha pagado conforme a mi justicia;me ha premiado conforme a la limpieza de mis manos,

21 pues he andado en los caminos del SEÑOR;no he cometido mal algunoni me he apartado de mi Dios.

22 Presentes tengo todas sus sentencias;no me he alejado de sus decretos.

23 He sido íntegro con ély me he abstenido de pecar.

24 El SEÑOR me ha recompensado conforme a mi justicia,conforme a la limpieza de mis manos.

25 Tú eres fiel con quien es fiel,e irreprochable con quien es irreprochable;

26 sincero eres con quien es sincero,pero sagaz con el que es tramposo.

27 Tú das la victoria a los humildes,pero humillas a los altaneros.

28 Tú, SEÑOR, mantienes mi lámpara encendida;tú, Dios mío, iluminas mis tinieblas.

29 Con tu apoyo me lanzaré contra un ejército;contigo, Dios mío, podré asaltar murallas.

30 El camino de Dios es perfecto;la palabra del SEÑOR es intachable.Escudo es Dios a los que en él se refugian.

31 ¿Quién es Dios, si no el SEÑOR?¿Quién es la roca, si no nuestro Dios?

32 Es él quien me arma de valory endereza mi camino;

33 da a mis pies la ligereza del venado,y me mantiene firme en las alturas;

34 adiestra mis manos para la batalla,y mis brazos para tensar arcos de bronce.

35 Tú me cubres con el escudo de tu salvación,y con tu diestra me sostienes;tu bondad me ha hecho prosperar.

36 Me has despejado el camino,así que mis tobillos no flaquean.

37 Perseguí a mis enemigos, les di alcance,y no retrocedí hasta verlos aniquilados.

38 Los aplasté. Ya no pudieron levantarse.¡Cayeron debajo de mis pies!

39 Tú me armaste de valor para el combate;bajo mi planta sometiste a los rebeldes.

40 Hiciste retroceder a mis enemigos,y así exterminé a los que me odiaban.

41 Pedían ayuda; no hubo quien los salvara.Al SEÑOR clamaron,^[c] pero no les respondió.

42 Los desmenucé. Parecían polvo disperso por el viento.¡Los pisoteé^[d] como al lodo de las calles!

43 Me has librado de una turba amotinada;me has puesto por encima de los paganos;me sirve gente que yo no conocía.

44 Apenas me oyen, me obedecen;son extranjeros, y me rinden homenaje.

45 ¡Esos extraños se descorazonan,y temblando salen de sus refugios!

46 ¡El SEÑOR vive! ¡Alabada sea mi roca!¡Exaltado sea Dios mi Salvador!

47 Él es el Dios que me vindica,el que pone los pueblos a mis pies.

48 Tú me libras del furor de mis enemigos,me exaltas por encima de mis adversarios,me salvas de los hombres violentos.

49 Por eso, SEÑOR, te alabo entre las nacionesy canto salmos a tu nombre.

50 El SEÑOR da grandes victorias a su rey;a su ungido David y a sus descendientesles muestra por siempre su gran amor.

Salmos 18 Commentary

Chapter 18

David rejoices in the deliverances God wrought for him. (1-19) He takes the comfort of his integrity, which God had cleared up. (20-28) He gives to God the glory of all his mighty deeds. (29-50)

Verses 1-19 The first words, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength," are the scope and contents of the psalm. Those that truly love God, may triumph in him as their Rock and Refuge, and may with confidence call upon him. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it. David was a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. God's manifestation of his presence is very fully described, ver. ( 7-15 ) . Little appeared of man, but much of God, in these deliverances. It is not possible to apply to the history of the son of Jesse those awful, majestic, and stupendous words which are used through this description of the Divine manifestation. Every part of so solemn a scene of terrors tells us, a greater than David is here. God will not only deliver his people out of their troubles in due time, but he will bear them up under their troubles in the mean time. Can we meditate on ver. 18, without directing one thought to Gethsemane and Calvary? Can we forget that it was in the hour of Christ's deepest calamity, when Judas betrayed, when his friends forsook, when the multitude derided him, and the smiles of his Father's love were withheld, that the powers of darkness prevented him? The sorrows of death surrounded him, in his distress he prayed, ( Hebrews 5:7 ) . God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.

Verses 20-28 Those that forsake the ways of the Lord, depart from their God. But though conscious to ourselves of many a false step, let there not be a wicked departure from our God. David kept his eye upon the rule of God's commands. Constant care to keep from that sin, whatever it be, which most easily besets us, proves that we are upright before God. Those who show mercy to others, even they need mercy. Those who are faithful to God, shall find him all that to them which he has promised to be. The words of the Lord are pure words, very sure to be depended on, and very sweet to be delighted in. Those who resist God, and walk contrary to him, shall find that he will walk contrary to them, ( Leviticus 26:21-24 ) . The gracious recompence of which David spoke, may generally be expected by those who act from right motives. Hence he speaks comfort to the humble, and terror to the proud; "Thou wilt bring down high looks." And he speaks encouragement to himself; "Thou wilt light my candle:" thou wilt revive and comfort my sorrowful spirit; thou wilt guide my way, that I may avoid the snares laid for me. Thou wilt light my candle to work by, and give me an opportunity of serving thee. Let those that walk in darkness, and labour under discouragements, take courage; God himself will be a Light to them.

Verses 29-50 When we praise for one mercy, we must observe the many more, with which we have been compassed all our days. Many things had contributed to David's advancement, and he owns the hand of God in them all, to teach us to do likewise. In verse Verse 32 , and the following verses, are the gifts of God to the spiritual warrior, whereby he is prepared for the contest, after the example of his victorious Leader. Learn that we must seek release being made through Christ, shall be rejected. In David the type, we behold out of trouble through Christ. The prayer put up, without reconciliation Jesus our Redeemer, conflicting with enemies, compassed with sorrows and with floods of ungodly men, enduring not only the pains of death, but the wrath of God for us; yet calling upon the Father with strong cries and tears; rescued from the grave; proceeding to reconcile, or to put under his feet all other enemies, till death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. We should love the Lord, our Strength, and our Salvation; we should call on him in every trouble, and praise him for every deliverance; we should aim to walk with him in all righteousness and true holiness, keeping from sin. If we belong to him, he conquers and reigns for us, and we shall conquer and reign through him, and partake of the mercy of our anointed King, which is promised to all his seed for evermore. Amen.

Footnotes

• [a]. "el poder que me salva" . Lit. "el cuerno de mi salvación" .
• [b]. "por " "… " "tu enojo" . Lit. "por el soplo del aliento de tu nariz" .
• [c]. "Al Señor clamaron " (versiones antiguas); TM no incluye "clamaron" .
• [d]. "Los pisoteé " (LXX, Siríaca, Targum, mss. y 2S 22:43); "Los vacié " (TM).

Chapter Summary

To the chief Musician, [a Psalm] of David. This is the same with that in 2 Samuel 22:1, with some variations, omissions, and alterations:

the servant of the Lord; not only by creation, nor merely by regeneration, but by office, as king of Israel, being put into it by the Lord, and acting in it in submission and obedience to him; just as the apostles under the New Testament, on account of their office, so style themselves in their epistles:

who spake unto the Lord the words of this song; that is, who delivered and sung this song in so many express words, in public, before all the congregation of Israel, to the honour and glory of God:

in the day [that] the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, Not that this psalm was composed and sung the selfsame day that David was delivered from Saul, and set upon the throne; for it seems to have been written in his old age, at the close of his days; for immediately after it, in the second book of Samuel, it follows, "now these be the last words of David," 2 Samuel 23:1: but the sense is, that whereas David had many enemies, and particularly Saul, who was his greatest enemy, the Lord delivered him from them all, and especially from him, from him first, and then from all the rest; which when he reflected upon in his last days, he sat down and wrote this psalm, and then sung it in public, having delivered it into the hands of the chief musician for that purpose. There are two passages cited out of it in the New Testament, and applied to Christ; Psalm 18:2, in Hebrews 2:13, and Psalm 18:49 in Romans 15:9; and there are many things in it that very well agree with him; he is eminently the "servant" of the Lord as Mediator; he was encompassed with the snares and sorrows of death and hell, and with the floods of ungodly men, when in the garden and on the cross God was his helper and deliverer, as man; and he was victorious over all enemies, sin, Satan, the world, death and hell; as the subject of this psalm is all along represented: and to Christ it does most properly belong to be the head of the Heathen, whose voluntary subjects the Gentiles are said to be, Psalm 18:43; and which is expressed in much the same language as the like things are in Isaiah 55:4; which is a clear and undoubted prophecy of the Messiah; to which may be added, that the Lord's Anointed, the King Messiah, and who is also called David, is expressly mentioned in Psalm 18:50; and which is applied to the Messiah by the Jews {q} as Psalm 18:32 is paraphrased of him by the Targum on it;

and he said; the following words:

{q} Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 2. & Midrash Tillim in Tzeror Hammor, fol. 47. 3.