Psalm 18

¹³         Also:   the Lord thundered in the heavens,

the voice of the Most High resounded,

hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴                         And He shot His arrows and scattered them;

flashing forth lightnings He routed them.

¹⁵          Then the valleys of the sea were seen,

                         the foundations of the world were laid bare

            At Your rebuke, O Lord,

                        at the blast of breath of Your nostrils.

¹⁶        He reached down from on high, He snatched me;

He drew me out of many waters.

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Mighty is the Lord

For the Lord’s Day:  the 11^th of April 2004

Introduction:  There are mixed in together several themes in the grand vision of this long poetic hymnic psalm.  There are elements of the Godly presence in the desert with Moses as well as the final coming in glory at the end of the age.  Meantime, between those two seminal events – David and His own greater Son know the same confidence of heavenly support demonstrated in these verses that celebrate the might, power and awesome greatness of our Lord God Creator.  Poetically, I have set off this section much like the one last week.  The word that came to mind for this purpose is in verse thirteen: “Also.” So in addition to the poetic vision of verses seven to twelve, we may “also” add the further descriptions of today’s section as well as those of another week or two to come.

 

One of Spurgeon’s notes from Augustus Tholuck comments on this whole section:  “David calls the full force of poetical imagery to aid, to describe in a becoming manner the marvels of his deliverances. He means to say that they were as manifest as the signs of heaven and earth, as sudden and powerful as the phenomena in the kingdom of nature [which] surprise terrified mortals.”

 

So, we may understand the storm based analogies here in this descriptive poetry, but yet – there is ever and always, something more going on for the child of God!  And just as we have one foot in heaven and one on earth on any Lord’s Day when we are sensitive to the Spirit, so may we comprehend not only antiquity, but also eternity wrapped up in this thematic description.  After all, Christianity is not just an ordinary religion carefully crafted to slave the conscience or to manipulate the natural powers – it is always something more: something spiritual and other worldly!  That is what sets our faith apart from the smorgasbord of the world’s assortment of religious sentiments.

 

Development: With those generalizations having been said, let us turn our attention to the thirteenth verse and analyze not only the poetry and images, but also the spiritual significance in the life of David, his greater Son: Jesus Christ and its import for our lives and faith.  “Also:         the Lord thundered in the heavens, the voice of the Most High resounded, hailstones and coals of fire.”

 

I have already mentioned my use of the word “also” to set these verses apart from the previous portion of this whole section.  So, let us consider the three phrases of the initial declaration.  We begin with the “thundering” of the Lord God in the heavens and in seeming simplicity of that word, we might gloss over the depth of the intention here.  After all – there are many understandings of this word and in his commentary Calvin explains the sense in the science of his day.  And that description was very close to my father’s explanation when I was very young.

 

As it had turned out, my grandmothers had me thoroughly confused.  On the Scot’s side of the family, thunder was explained as the rumbling of a “war wagon” or even a “chariot” similar to the roll of the cherubim mentioned in last week’s study.  On the Germanic and Irish side of the family – the symbolism was a little more fanciful in that the “angels were bowling and knocking down pins” as a part of their arrangements for the storm clouds to refresh the earth.

 

Which was it, I had asked my father – to referee the old family myths?  Perhaps my paternal grandmother had at least been using biblical metaphors – but my father carefully explained the process of air currents and atmospheric pressure so as to satisfy the innate curiosity with which we are all born.  Please understand, my scientific understanding here in no way shape or form negates the providential use of storms and earthquakes to accomplish the divine will and purpose.  Both Luther at the time of the Reformation and one Sergeant York, just before the Great War: well understood a storm cloud experience of the Almighty’s presence.  And in fact an aged neighbor shared with me the fact that he had been struck by lightning twice in his life.  When I asked him if he had come to faith the first time – he assured me that the second was necessary because he was a slow learner.  The first strike he had simply left to a chance encounter with the forces of nature.  The second time, he admitted that the Lord indeed got his attention!

 

Calvin observes that in David’s case we should “not suppose it is produced merely by chance or by natural causes, independent of the appointment and will of God.  Philosophers, it is true, are well acquainted with the intermediate or secondary causes, from which the thunder proceeds … but David, in describing the phenomena of the atmosphere, rises, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, above the mere phenomena themselves, and represents God to us as the supreme governor of the whole” universe, as we may draw out this conclusion.

 

The second phrase here announces that the voice of the Most High resounded across the landscape.  “Echoes far and wide”, might be the way we would report it in our time!  And just as a thunder storm clears the air so that you smell the freshness of creation after it has passed – so may we know at the time of Christ and also at the end of the age – the appearance of the Lord God renews and refreshes all things.  Years ago, dad and I were driving the horse drawn hay wagon up from the “back forty” – it was a long way to the barn.  A sudden storm appeared out of nowhere – the black clouds ripped and snorted and passed their commotion on to the team, whose reins dad quickly grabbed from my inexperienced hands.  The horses broke into a trot pulling the wagon over the dry rutted path, we hung on for dear life!  Then it poured down rain for all of thirty seconds and suddenly – it was all over, the horses returned to their ordinary plodding, feeling less frisky than just moments before.  I can still remember the rain fresh smell – the aftermath of the electronic discharge of several lightning bolts nearby and a real sense that all was well – we and the horses were safe and the hay was still useable.

 

Our last phrase, some commentators suppose to be an untimely addendum – copies out from an earlier verse.  But, the hail and coals are merely natural phenomena long associated with the storm.  About a year and a half ago, there was a dramatic hail storm up in Dublin and car dealerships lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to damaged vehicles.  And more than once I have had to explain to young people that natural nature of a phenomena called “St Elmo’s Fire” – nothing more than electrical discharges dancing on trees, flag poles or other high objects between the storm clouds and the ground.

 

All of that and even more from only one verse in our text for the day.  The next verse, the fourteenth: continues the image as we are assured that those targeted in and through the storm will feel the effects: natural or spiritual.  “And He shot His arrows and scattered them; flashing forth lightnings He routed them.”

 

In David’s mind – it may only have been a batch of Philistines routed at the hand of God, and yet let us be assured that if God intends to use a storm to achieve His divine purpose: His will must be accomplished!  Storms of course do indeed sometimes carry people away to judgment, just as in other times they may call people to the Lord of all the earth.  Whatever our destiny – it will be accomplished in a timely manner.  And the scattered arrows, everyone will reach its appointed target.

 

Saxon King Harold of Britain fought the invading Normans to a standstill until an appointed arrow pierced his armored helm, blinding one eye.  Thereby the battle was lost, the House Carls were slaughtered and a new era dawned in the history of England.  David tells us that his enemies were routed even as are all those who oppose the will and purpose of our God and King.

 

We move on to verse fifteen:  “Then the valleys of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were laid bare.  At Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of breath of Your nostrils.”  Here, the crossing of the reed sea by the Israelites comes to mind – even as the Lord of hosts rescues and relieves His own people in every age and time.  The ancient Greeks had a real sense that when the “Prime Mover” or “Logos” spoke – all heaven and earth might break loose or even appear by and through the divine fiat!  At College when the Big Bang Theory was expounded, I was asked what it meant:  God spoke the creation into existence I allowed and at that time, the professors were not so quick to degenerate every spiritual thought and the class was allowed to ponder another, more creative view of cosmology!

 

But, there is something more here in this verse, and it is for this reason that I have appended the sixteenth verse to this collection rather than leaving it to the next arrangement.

 

Application:  My Translator’s Handbook mentions that the verb translated “draw out” is only used “here, 2 Samuel 22: 17 and Exodus 2: 10 (where it is given as the source of the name of Moses).  If we, by grace – are willing and able to understand this in the sense of Psalm 139: 7-10 we are onto something wonderful to behold.  “Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.  If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”

 

It is in this ultimate sense that we should understand the will and purpose of God towards David and all of the elect.  He will have us as His own, “come hell or high water” as a proverbial old saying is often quoted!  And in the movement from verse fifteen to sixteen – that is exactly where the Lord God looks for us and “draws us out.”

 

The same Translator’s Handbook mentions that the “many waters” mentioned here refer “to the primordial watery mass, that is, the ‘deep’ that was ‘without form and void’ which described the chaos and disorder that existed before the creative word of God was uttered.  Here it is used in a figurative sense of death, the deadly peril from which Yahweh saved the psalmist.”

 

And so we may all the more readily read the gospel understanding that was revealed to David in and through the storm of life and experience:  “He reached down from on high, He snatched me; He drew me out of many waters.”

 

The image here is one where the Lord God probes into the very gate of Sheol to rescue His own people.  Even the waters of the earth that may cover the real and mythic real – they are brushed aside by the snorting anger of the Almighty God and just as the “deep” will give up its dead and all the saints and sinners who ever lived must rise up at the last day:  so shall the Lord of all the earth save us from our natural human condition.  “He came from heaven to earth” runs one spiritual song and in the grandest poetry given here through David, the psalm before us not only anticipates the real work of God but demonstrates it in images plain to the human heart that is opened to hear and know the will of God.  May David’s knowledge and rescue be ours today and always – till the end of the world and ever after.  Amen!

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

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