Psalms 18:2

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

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

My rock; to which I flee for refuge, as the Israelites did to their rocks. See . The horn; by which I have both defended myself, and subdued mine enemies. It is a metaphor from those beasts whose strength lies in their horns. The horn is oft put for power, as , and elsewhere.

Psalms 18:2 The LORD [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, [and] my high tower.Ver. 2. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, &c.] i.e. He is all in all for my preservation. Ten words, say the Hebrews, he here heapeth up, in reference to ten signal victories; or rather because his thankful heart was so enlarged, that he could never satisfy himself in saying what God had been to him and done for him; and hence this congeries, or heap of holy expressions; and all to show that God is a rock of refuge, a firm fortress, a receptacle of rest, a sanctuary of safety to all his saints in time of trouble. David had had his share, and had been put to his shifts; glad to hide himself, as he could, in rocks and strong holds that sheltered him from the storm. To these he alludeth when he calls God his rock, fortress, &c. And my deliverer] Rocks and strong holds do not always deliver (witness the Shechemites, Jebusites, Arimasphes), but God always doth. And the horn of my salvation] Qui veluti cornu petit et conficit hostes meos, saith Vatablus; who goreth and dispatcheth mine enemies. A metaphor either from horned beasts, or else (as some will have it) from the ancient custom of wearing horns of iron upon their helmet, for a crest or military ornament; whereupon the raised horn was a sign of victory, and the horn beaten down a sign of being overcome.

(2) Rock.—Better here, cliff, keeping “rock” for the next clause. In the first figure the ideas of height and shelter, in the second of broad-based and enduring strength, are predominant. Fortress.—Properly, mountain castle. We have the joint figure of the lofty and precipitous cliff with the castle on its crest, a reminiscence—as, in fact, is every one in this “towering of epithets”—of scenes and events in David’s early life. My God . . .—Better, my God, my rock, I trust in Him. God is here El, “the strong one.” In Samuel, “God of my rock.” Horn of my salvation.—The allusion seems to be not to a means of attack, like the horn of an animal, but to a mountain peak (called “horn” in all languages—so êÝñáò, Xen. Anab. v. 6; “Cornua Parnassi,” Statius, Theb. v. 532; and so in Hebrew, Isaiah 5:1, see margin), such as often afforded David a safe retreat. Render “my peak of safety.” High tower.—The LXX. and Vulgate have “helper.” (Comp. Psalms 9:9.) The word comes in so abruptly, that doubtless the addition in Samuel, “and my refuge, my Saviour, thou savest me from violence,” was part of the original hymn, completing the rhythm.

Verse 2. The Lord is my rock] 2. I stand on him as my foundation, and derive every good from him who is the source of good. The word סלע sela signifies those craggy precipices which afford shelter to men and wild animals; where the bees often made their nests, and whence honey was collected in great abundance. "He made him to suck honey out of the rock," Deuteronomy 32:13. 3. He was his fortress; a place of strength and safety, fortified by nature and art, where he could be safe from his enemies. He refers to those inaccessible heights in the rocky, mountainous country of Judea, where he had often found refuge from the pursuit of Saul. What these have been to my body, such has the Lord been to my soul. Deliverer] 4. מפלתי mephalleti, he who causes me to escape. This refers to his preservation in straits and difficulties. He was often almost surrounded and taken, but still the Lord made a way for his escape - made a way out as his enemies got in; so that, while they got in at one side of his strong hold, he got out of the other, and so escaped with his life. These escapes were so narrow and so unlikely that he plainly saw the hand of the Lord was in them. 5. My God, אלי Eli, my strong God, not only the object of my adoration, but he who puts strength in my soul. 6. My strength, צורי tsuri. This is a different word from that in the first verse. Rabbi Maimon has observed that צור tsur, when applied to God, signifies fountain, source, origin, c. God is not only the source whence my being was derived, but he is the fountain whence I derive all my good in whom, says David, I will trust. And why? Because he knew him to be an eternal and inexhaustible fountain of goodness. This fine idea is lost in our translation; for we render two Hebrew words of widely different meaning, by the same term in English, strength. 7. My buckler, מגני maginni, my shield, my defender, he who covers my head and my heart, so that I am neither slain nor wounded by the darts of my adversaries. 8. Horn of my salvation. Horn was the emblem of power, and power in exercise. This has been already explained; see on 1 Samuel 2:1. The horn of salvation means a powerful, an efficient salvation. 9. My high tower; not only a place of defence, but one from which I can discern the country round about, and always be able to discover danger before it approaches me.

2. The imagery which David uses is derived from the features of a country abounding in cliffs and caves and natural strongholds, with which he had become familiar in his flight from Saul. The rock, or cliff (sela) where he had been so unexpectedly delivered from Saul (1 Samuel 23:25-28): the fortress or stronghold in the wilderness of Judah or the fastnesses of En-gedi (1 Samuel 22:4; 1 Samuel 23:14; 1 Samuel 23:19; 1 Samuel 23:29; 1 Samuel 24:22); “the rocks of the wild goats” (1 Samuel 24:2; 1 Chronicles 11:15); were all emblems of Him who had been throughout his true Refuge and Deliverer. my God] El, and so in Psalms 18:30; Psalms 18:32; Psalms 18:47. See note on Psalms 5:4. my strength &c.] Lit., my rock in whom I take refuge. Here first in the Psalter occurs the title Rock (tsûr), so often used to describe the strength, faithfulness, and unchangeableness of Jehovah. See Psalms 18:31; Psalms 18:46; Deuteronomy 32:4; Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 32:18; Deuteronomy 32:30-31; 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalms 19:14; Psalms 28:1; &c. Here, as the relative clause shews, the special idea is that of an asylum in danger. Cp. Psalms 94:22; Deuteronomy 32:37. my buckler &c.] As my shield He defends me: as the horn of my salvation He drives my enemies before Him and gives me the victory. The horn is a common symbol of irresistible strength, derived from horned animals, especially wild oxen. See Deuteronomy 33:17; and note the use of the phrase in Luke 1:69. Cp. Psalms 28:7-8. my high tower] See note on Psalms 9:9. 2 Sam. adds, “and my retreat, my saviour, who savest me from violence.”

The Lord is my rock - The idea in this expression, and in the subsequent parts of the description, is that he owed his safety entirely to God. He had been unto him as a rock, a tower, a buckler, etc.

2. My rock—In this verse, which is strikingly similar to Psalms 144:2, six terms, signifying the strongest military defences of those times, are used and applied to God, namely: strength, rock,