Psalm 18:14

Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) He sent out.—In the majesty of the storm we have almost forgotten its cause, the Divine wrath against the enemies of the poet. They are abruptly recalled to our remembrance in the suffix (“them”) of the verbs in this verse. So the LXX. and Vulg. Many ancient interpreters, however, understood by them “the lightnings,” while Ewald would carry the pronoun on to the “waters” in the next verse. Instead of “shot” (rab) many render as if it were the adjective “many,” “his numerous lightnings.” But comp. Psalm 144:6 and the verse in Samuel.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:1-19 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, Heb 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Yea, he sent out his arrows - The word arrows here probably refers to the lightnings mentioned in the other clause of the verse. Those lightnings scattered around, and accomplishing such destruction, seemed to be arrows sent forth from the hand of God.

And scattered them - Herder refers this to the lightnings; DeWette, to the enemies of the psalmist. The latter seems to be the more correct interpretation, though the enemies of the psalmist are not here particularly specified. They seem, however, to have been in his eye throughout the psalm, for it was the victory achieved over them by the divine interposition that he was celebrating throughout the poem.

And he shot out lightnings - As arrows; or, as from a bow.

And discomfited them - literally, to impel, to drive; then, to put in commotion or consternation. The allusion is to an army whose order is disturbed, or which is thrown into confusion, and which is, therefore, easily conquered. The idea is that David achieved a victory over all his enemies, as if God had scattered them by a storm and tempest.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. The fiery brightness of lightning, in shape like burning arrows rapidly shot through the air, well represents the most terrible part of an awful storm. Before the terrors of such a scene the enemies are confounded and overthrown in dismay.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

His arrows, to wit, lightnings, as it is explained in the next clause.

Scattered them, to wit, mine enemies; which is sufficiently understood from Psalm 18:3,17, and from the whole context.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Yea, he sent out his arrows,.... By which thunderbolts, cracks of thunder, and flashes of lightning, seem to be meant; see Psalm 77:17; comparable to arrows shot, and sent out of a bow; and may denote, either the doctrines of the Gospel, which were sharp in the hearts of Christ's enemies, and are either the means of subduing them to him, or of destroying them, being the savour of death unto death; or however, like arrows, give great pain and uneasiness where they stick, and grievously distress and torment; as does the fire which comes out of the mouth of the two witnesses, Revelation 11:5. The Targum is,

"he sent his word as arrows;''

or else the judgments of God are meant, as famine, pestilence, and the sword, which God sent unto, and spent upon the Jewish nation, Deuteronomy 32:23;

and scattered them; among the nations of the world, where they have been dispersed ever since;

and he shot out lightnings; or "many lightnings", so the Targum:

and discomfited them; troubled, terrified, and distressed them.

Geneva Study Bible

Yea, he sent out {k} his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

(k) His lightening.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. And he sent out &c. (R.V.) gives the connexion better than Yea. Lightnings are Jehovah’s arrows. Cp. Psalm 77:17; Habakkuk 3:11.

Scattered them clearly refers to the enemies whose destruction was the object of this Divine interposition (Psalm 18:3).

and he shot out lightnings] Better, yea, lightnings in abundance; or, as R.V., lightnings manifold.

discomfited] A word denoting the confusion of a sudden panic, and used especially of supernatural defeat. Cp. Exodus 14:24 (R.V.); Joshua 10:10; Jdg 4:15; 1 Samuel 7:10. Psalm 144:6-7 is based on Psalm 18:14; Psalm 18:16.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them. God's "arrows" are often spoken cf. Job felt them within him (Job 6:4). David has already said of them, that they are "ordained against the persecutors" (Psalm 7:13). We may understand by the expression any sharp pains, mental or bodily, which God sends. And he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. The effect of the tempest of God's wrath is to "scatter" and "discomfit" the enemy (comp. Exodus 14:24). Instead of" and he shot out lightnings," our Revisers give, and lightnings manifold, which is perhaps better. Psalm 18:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 18:14-16) Amidst thunder, Jahve hurled lightnings as arrows upon David's enemies, and the breath of His anger laid bare the beds of the flood to the very centre of the earth, in order to rescue the sunken one. Thunder is the rumble of God, and as it were the hollow murmur of His mouth, Job 37:2. עליון, the Most High, is the name of God as the inapproachable Judge, who governs all things. The third line of Psalm 18:14 is erroneously repeated from the preceding strophe. It cannot be supported on grammatical grounds by Exodus 9:23, since קול נתן, edere vocem, has a different meaning from the נתן קלת, dare tonitrua, of that passage. The symmetry of the strophe structure is also against it; and it is wanting both in 2 Sam. nd in the lxx. רב, which, as the opposite of מעט Nehemiah 2:12; Isaiah 10:7, means adverbially "in abundance," is the parallel to ויּשׁלח. It is generally taken, after the analogy of Genesis 49:23, in the sense of בּרק, Psalm 144:6 : רב in pause equals רב (the ō passing over into the broader like עז instead of עז in Genesis 49:3) equals רבב, cognate with רבה, רמה; but the forms סב, סבּוּ, here, and in every other instance, have but a very questionable existence, as e.g., רב, Isaiah 54:13, is more probably an adjective than the third person praet. (cf. Bttcher, Neue Aehrenlese No. 635, 1066). The suffixes ēm do not refer to the arrows, i.e., lightnings, but to David's foes. המם means both to put in commotion and to destroy by confounding, Exodus 14:24; Exodus 23:27. In addition to the thunder, the voice of Jahve, comes the stormwind, which is the snorting of the breath of His nostrils. This makes the channels of the waters visible and lays bare the foundations of the earth. אפיק (collateral form to אפק) is the bed of the river and then the river or brook itself, a continendo aquas (Ges.), and exactly like the Arabic mesı̂k, mesâk, mesek (from Arab. msk, the VI form of which, tamâsaka, corresponds to התאפּק), means a place that does not admit of the water soaking in, but on account of the firmness of the soil preserves it standing or flowing. What are here meant are the water-courses or river beds that hold the water. It is only needful for Jahve to threaten (epitiman Matthew 8:26) and the floods, in which he, whose rescue is undertaken here, is sunk, flee (Psalm 104:7) and dry up (Psalm 106:9, Nahum 1:4). But he is already half engulfed in the abyss of Hades, hence not merely the bed of the flood is opened up, but the earth is rent to its very centre. From the language being here so thoroughly allegorical, it is clear that we were quite correct in interpreting the description as ideal. He, who is nearly overpowered by his foes, is represented as one engulfed in deep waters and almost drowning.