Chapter Twenty-Two

The Song of David Upon His Deliverance from His Enemies

2 Samuel 22:1. And David sang this song to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul, and he said: In the decline of his days, peacefully surveying the course of his life—its troubles and dangers, victories and exaltation—David clearly sees in all the paths of his life the strong saving hand of the Lord. “The prevailing features of this song—the majestic depiction of the terrible all-powerfulness of Jehovah, which terrified David’s enemies, and vivid pictures of the mighty blows that David dealt to his enemies—show that it was sung at a time when David’s soul was still full of fresh memories of his troubled military life, great dangers, and miraculous deliverances from them.” A different spirit distinguishes the song which the Chronicler calls “the last words of David” (2 Sam 23:1), which appeared obviously later, when David, having happily escaped the hands of men, had twice fallen into the hands of God. Pardoned by God, he turns his gaze here more to the inner basis of God’s favor toward him and his house than to the outer form of the manifestation of this favor” (I. Bogorodskiy, “Hebrew Kings”, p. 250).

2 Samuel 22:3. My God is my rock; I trust in Him; my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My Savior, from violence You have delivered me! “The horn of my salvation.” One who grasped the horns of the sacrificial altar of the tent, according to the law (Exod 27:2), was considered inviolable against persecution. The word “horn” is used in Sacred Scripture also in the sense of strength, a reliable means of defense (see 1 Sam 2:1). The Lord is the horn of salvation, that is, strength for the salvation of man.

2 Samuel 22:8. The earth trembled and quaked; the foundations of the heavens shook and were moved, because He was angry [with them]. 2 Samuel 22:9. Smoke rose from His anger and fire came from His mouth, devouring; burning coals were kindled by it. 2 Samuel 22:10. He bowed the heavens and came down; and darkness was under His feet; 2 Samuel 22:11. And He rode upon the Cherubim, and flew, and was seen upon the wings of the wind; 2 Samuel 22:12. And He made darkness His covering, like a tent, gathering the waters of the clouds of heaven; 2 Samuel 22:13. From the brightness before Him coals of fire were kindled. 2 Samuel 22:14. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High made His voice heard; 2 Samuel 22:15. And He sent arrows and scattered them; [He flashed] lightning and destroyed them. 2 Samuel 22:16. And the channels of the sea were revealed, the foundations of the world were exposed at the terrible voice of the Lord, at the breath of the spirit of His anger. 2 Samuel 22:17. He reached down from on high and took me, and drew me out of many waters; 2 Samuel 22:18. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were stronger than I. 2 Samuel 22:19. They came against me in the day of my calamity; but the Lord was my support. 2 Samuel 22:20. And He brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me, because He delighted in me. A poetical depiction of the terrible might and glory of God, which appeared in defense of the righteous David from the overwhelming “waters” of calamities and sufferings.

2 Samuel 22:21. The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me. 2 Samuel 22:22. For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God, 2 Samuel 22:23. For all His commandments were before me, and from His statutes I have not turned away, 2 Samuel 22:24. And I was blameless before Him, and I kept myself from iniquity. 2 Samuel 22:25. So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness before His eyes. 2 Samuel 22:26. With the merciful You show Yourself merciful; with a man of integrity—with integrity, 2 Samuel 22:27. With the pure You show Yourself pure, but with the crooked You show Yourself shrewd. This does not mean, of course, that David considered himself a sinless man: his answer to the prophet Nathan (2 Sam 12:13), his penitential (Ps 50) psalm of repentance on account of the illicit census (2 Sam 24:10), speak to us of the exact opposite. In the cited verses it is said only that David was aware (and could not help but be aware) that he was far from being a hardened sinner: all his thoughts, all his feelings, all the movements of his deeply religious spirit were directed toward God. An immortal monument to the religious life of the soul of the great king and prophet David are the well-known psalms of his.

2 Samuel 22:29. O Lord, You are my lamp; the Lord brightens my darkness. “The Lord brightens the darkness” of calamities, ignorance, and delusions of man.

2 Samuel 22:44. You have delivered me from the tumult of my people; You have kept me to be the head over nations; a people I did not know serve me. “A people I did not know serve me.” This refers either to some foreign nation conquered by David, or to the God-given people of Israel, in which he certainly could not know the majority of individual persons.