Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 22:2–end
Let us observe, in this song of praise,
I. How David adores God, and gives him the glory of his infinite perfections. There is none like him, nor any to be compared with him (Sa2 22:32): Who is God, save the Lord? All others that are adored as deities are counterfeits and pretenders. None is to be relied on but he. Who is a rock, save our God? They are dead, but the Lord liveth, Sa2 22:47. They disappoint their worshippers when they most need them. But as for God his way is perfect, Sa2 22:31. Men begin in kindness, but end not - promise, but perform not; but God will finish his work, and his word is tried, and what we may trust.
II. How he triumphs in the interest he has in this God, and hi…
Read the whole note in the consoleAdam Clarke on 2 Samuel 22:11
He rode upon a cherub, and did fly - he was seen upon the things of the wind - In the original of this sublime passage, sense and sound are astonishingly well connected. I shall insert the Hebrew, represent it in English letters for the sake of the unlearned reader, and have only to observe, he must read from the right to the left.
רוח כנפי על וירא ויעף כרוב על וירכב ruach canphey al vaiyera vaiyaoph kerub al vayirkab wind the of wings the upon seen was he and; fly did and cherub upon rode he
The clap of the wing, the agitation and rush through the air are expressed here in a very extraordinary manner.
Other beauties of this kind will be noted in the exposition of the Psalm alluded to abov…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill on 2 Samuel 22:19
They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. See Gill on Psalm 18:18.
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Samuel 22:17-20
17 He reached out of the height, He laid hold of me;
Drew me out of great waters:
18 Saved me from my enemy strong;
From my haters, because they were too strong for me.
19 They fell upon me in my day of calamity:
Then Jehovah became my stay,
20 And led me out into a broad place;
Delivered me, because He had pleasure in me.
The Lord stretched His hand from the height into the deep abysses, which had been uncovered through the threatening of the wrath of God, and drew out the sinking man. ישׁלח without יד is used to denote the stretching out of the hand, and in the sense of reaching out to a thing (as in Sa2 6:6). רבּים מים (great waters) does not refer to the enemy, but to the calamities and…
