Psalm 18--The LORD Is My Rock and My Fortress

Psalm 18
English Standard Version

The LORD Is My Rock and My Fortress
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
18 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
    and I am saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death encompassed me;
    the torrents of destruction assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
    the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called upon the LORD;
    to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
    and my cry to him reached his ears.

7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
    the foundations also of the mountains trembled
    and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
    and devouring fire from his mouth;
    glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens and came down;
    thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
    he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
    thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
    hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens,
    and the Most High uttered his voice,
    hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
    he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
    and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD,
    at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16 He sent from on high, he took me;
    he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
    and from those who hated me,
    for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
    but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place;
    he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

20 The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;
    according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
    and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his rules were before me,
    and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him,
    and I kept myself from my guilt.
24 So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
26 with the purified you show yourself pure;
    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27 For you save a humble people,
    but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28 For it is you who light my lamp;
    the LORD my God lightens my darkness.
29 For by you I can run against a troop,
    and by my God I can leap over a wall.
30 This God—his way is perfect;
    the word of the LORD proves true;
    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

31 For who is God, but the LORD?
    And who is a rock, except our God?--
32 the God who equipped me with strength
    and made my way blameless.
33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer
    and set me secure on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for war,
    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
    and your right hand supported me,
    and your gentleness made me great.
36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
    and my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
    and did not turn back till they were consumed.
38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
    they fell under my feet.
39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
    you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
    and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save;
    they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
    I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

43 You delivered me from strife with the people;
    you made me the head of the nations;
    people whom I had not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
    foreigners came cringing to me.
45 Foreigners lost heart
    and came trembling out of their fortresses.

46 The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,
    and exalted be the God of my salvation--
47 the God who gave me vengeance
    and subdued peoples under me,
48 who rescued me from my enemies;
    yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;
    you delivered me from the man of violence.

​49 For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,
    and sing to your name.
50 Great salvation he brings to his king,
    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
    to David and his offspring forever.

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This one's a bit longer, but understandably so if you read all the heading information . This is the song that David sang when the LORD delivered him from the hand of his enemies, including King Saul.

The Psalm starts with praise and adoration for who the LORD is and what He does to protect and defend David and deliver and save him.  "I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies." is a transition from this time of adoration to David's testimony of exactly what the LORD had done for him.

It looked like certain death for David, but he called on the LORD for help and it seems like the LORD answered by showing up in person to fight David's battle for him.  There was an earthquake and thunder and lightning and dark clouds to hide the LORD, and there was fire and giant hailstones.  He rode on a cherubim and the land and the sea responded to His presence, being laid bare before Him.  God used the storm to target David's enemies just like if He were shooting arrows from His bow or using His breath to blow them away.

​David makes it clear that the LORD rescued him and the LORD fought and won the battle, and David said that it was only because the LORD delighted in David (still something that the LORD did to make him righteous) that He fought for David.  David says it was because of his (David's) righteousness, that he kept the laws, statutes and precepts of the LORD and walked blameless before Him, that the LORD dealt justly with him and saved him.  Again, even if this is so, it is only by the LORD that David was able to keep any of the Law--that is still something that the LORD does in and through us and is not really something that we can take any credit for (especially when we know that we are judged by the righteousness of Christ and it is not by our own acts of righteousness for which we will be judged).

David says that God deals with people according to their nature (which seems to run in parallel with  The Beatitudes).  The merciful will receive mercy, the blameless will see God as blameless, the pure in heart will see God as pure and so on.  David also identifies the LORD as his lamp that shows him where to walk and each step that he should take.  He lights up our darkness and gives us supernatural abilities to fight the battles that He commands us to fight, but He always gets all the glory.  He is our Shield and Defender!

​David then asks the rhetorical question, " For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?"  Even though the answer is clearly "No one," David goes on to describe the many ways in which there is none like God.  The LORD--He alone is God!  He equips us for battle; He keeps us from stumbling; He gives us the assurance of salvation that acts as a shield to defend against the attacks of the evil one; He gives us His strength because we don't have it within ourselves to fight our battles.

David gives chase to the retreating armies that had been surrounding him and defeats them all, even though he was greatly outnumbered and he was fighting well-trained military men with his band of "misfits."  The LORD's victory changed the hearts of the people in the nation and the foreigners who quickly heard of this event.  They all withdrew their support from King Saul and gave it to King David because it was clear the that LORD supported David and did not support Saul.  Other nations who had made themselves enemies of David and Israel surrendered before the same kind of judgment that fell on Saul would also fall on them.

David once again gives the LORD credit for the victory and all that has come about because of it.  For this reason, His name will be praise among the nations.  Great is the LORD who saves His king, and great is the salvation that was brought to David and all those with Him.  The LORD has revealed His steadfast love to David and his descendants forever (little does David know just how true this is as the Davidic Covenant will come much later in David's life, but the LORD will promise David that He will never forget David nor will there ever cease to be one of David's descendants on the throne until the Messiah comes and He would be a descendent of David, and His kingdom would be a kingdom that has no end).