is intended is, that condescension of God to mankind, and especially to the house of David, which was in operation, with an ultimate view to the incarnation, in the life of the son of Jesse from the time of his anointing to his death, viz., the divine χρηστότης καὶ φιλανθρωπία (Tit 3:4), which elected the shepherd boy to be king, and did not cast him off even when he fell into sin and his infirmities became manifest. To enlarge his steps under any one is equivalent to securing him room for freedom of motion (cf. the opposite form of expression in Pro 4:12). Jahve removed the obstacles of his course out of the way, and steeled his ankles so that he stood firm in fight and endured till he came off victorious. The praet. מעדו substantiates what, without any other indication of it, is required by the consecutio temporum, viz., that everything here has a retrospective meaning.
Verses 37-40
Psa 18:37-40 (Hebrew_Bible_18:38-41) Thus in God's strength, with the armour of God, and by God's assistance in fight, he smote, cast down, and utterly destroyed all his foes in foreign and in civil wars. According to the Hebrew syntax the whole of this passage is a retrospect. The imperfect signification of the futures in Psa 18:38, Psa 18:39 is made clear from the aorist which appears in Psa 18:40, and from the perfects and futures in what follows it. The strophe begins with an echo of Exo 15:9 (cf. supra Psa 7:6). The poet calls his opponents קמי, as in Psa 18:49, Psa 44:6; Psa 74:23, cf. קימנוּ Job 22:20, inasmuch as קוּם by itself has the sense of rising up in hostility and consequently one can say קמי instead of עלי קמים (קומים 2Ki 16:7).[1]
The frequent use of this phrase (e.g., Ps 36:13, Lam 1:14) shows that קום in Psa 18:39 does not mean “to stand (resist),” but “to rise (again).” The phrase נתן ערף, however, which in other passages has those fleeing as its subject (2Ch 29:6), is here differently applied: Thou gavest, or madest me mine enemies a
- ↑ In the language of the Beduins kôm is war, feud, and kômānı̂ (denominative from kōm) my enemy (hostis); kōm also has the signification of a collective of kōmānı̂, and one can equally well say: entum waijânâ kôm, you and we are enemies, and: bênâtnâ kôm, there is war between us.
