Psalm 18

³⁴        [God] has trained my hands for war,

so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵        You have given me the shield of Your salvation,

 and Your right hand sustained me,

and Your gentleness made me great.

³⁶        You gave a wide place for my steps under me,

 and my feet did not slip.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As A Warrior

For the Lord’s Day:  the 23^rd of May 2004

Introduction:  The first time I remember hearing these words was in an old movie where General Robert E Lee was meditating the night before a battle.  The actor played the scene much as David must have done so, in preparation prayer for the events of the morning to follow.  Let us be certain to make note of the fact that solid biblical Presbyterians have never been on record as opposed to any just war!  We have long realized the fallen nature of men and nations and we have observed that often real force must be used to protect our families and our countries from those who would do us harm. 

 

A Quaker farmer once defined the essential differences between his peaceful sect and that of the warrior stock of Scot’s Presbyterians.  It seems this Quaker had purchased a new milk cow, which was barely trained.  After three or four milkings he had yet to make any nutritional profit from the young and unruly bovine.  She had kicked or otherwise spilt every single drop of milk.  And so he spoke to her face to face:  “Thou knowest that I will not strike Thee, Thou knowest that I will not curse Thee, but what Thou knowest not is that if you don’t co-operate soon, I will certainly sell Thee to a Presbyterian farmer!”  By implication, he was admitting, as all the world once realized: the cantankerous cow would be decidedly dealt with or be turned into hamburger for the table!

 

Now, please understand – that Presbyterians have always been realists when it came to human nature and international relations.  The best movie depiction of not only the kindness of a solid biblical human nature, but also the fire-breathing Calvinist warrior is to be seen in the beautifully stunning movie: Gods & Generals, where the life of Stonewall Jackson is carefully and realistically depicted.  It is not just the American Civil War where this is seen; it is also a matter of record that in Washington’s Continental Army that slightly over half of the enlisted soldiers were Presbyterians and of the Regimental commanders for that force, all but one was Presbyterian elders.

 

I say all of this, not just to justify studying the theme of war implicit in this passage, but to demonstrate that we do not have to apologize for being willing to protect our civilization, our country, our families and values.

 

Development:  We begin with verse thirty-four: “[God] has trained my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”  David here admits that he personally was not only by breeding, character and ability: a warrior after God’s own heart, but in addition he credits every aspect of his calling and person to being shaped for this purpose by the all powerful will of the Lord God Creator of heaven and earth.

 

Calvin observes of David:  “When he says that his hands had been taught and framed to war, he confesses that he had not acquired his dexterity in fighting by his own skill, nor by exercise and experience, but had obtained it as a gift through the singular goodness of God.”

 

When I was in basic training, the Army discovered two things about me, on the rifle range I could hardly miss a target from 200 yards to 800 yards, more importantly the found that only three of us out of two hundred and fifty could type with any meaningful speed!  My Drill Sergeant was impressed with the first, but the First Sergeant was more impressed with my typing ability and he told me to write home and tell my mother that because I could type, I would be coming home after my enlistment.  And so it turned out as he predicted, because the art of war has become so much more complex down through the centuries.

 

Of course, not all of the male population is physically or emotionally gifted for war, only about forty per cent met the medical and physical standards during the military expansion of the sixties.  We had one young man who could shoot, but he only knew three letters of the alphabet with no prospect for improvement, so he was sent home.

 

In this verse, David celebrates one of the military tests of his time, he was able to bend and string a “bow of bronze”.  This once elemental skill was celebrated around the Middle East in antiquity.  Even in old age, Odysseus of Greek fame proved his manhood and claim to his throne once he finally returned from Troy to his kingdom and family years after his cronies had tried to assume his throne and claim his supposed widow.

 

All of this and more has David claimed in natural ability and calling.  But, in the following verse he again credits all he is to the kind providence of God’s leading and positioning:  “You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand sustained me, and Your gentleness made me great.”

 

There are three things in this descriptive verse.  First of all we are encouraged to realize that the fact of continued life in the midst of strife is because He has personally been shielded by the power of God.  Of course, we may understand the spiritual implications here as well, but the essential meaning is that of ongoing survival on the battlefields of David’s career.

 

Second, we are encouraged to understand that God’s hand moves in and through all things to accomplish His divine will in and through the lives of His elect!  In the midst of all the political and military complications of Palestine in David’s day, slowly but surely – David rose to power because it was God’s specific intention to place His own man on the throne of Israel.

 

And finally, David announces that his own greatness is none other than the accomplishment of God’s divine will and purpose.  “Your gentleness made me great,” reads the English Standard Version.   Calvin’s translation runs slightly different:  “thy clemency hath increased me.”  The New International Version writes:  “You stoop down to make me great.”

 

The fact that God has looked upon him and purposed his rule for God’s greater glory is the intention of the language here.  How much different from the worldly presentation of the Trojan War now playing in the theaters?  “Vanity of vanities” one may well describe the hero Achilles of Greek legend and myth.  He was one truthfully described as standing in his own strength alone.  According to the story, Achilles was brought down by an arrow in the one vulnerable spot on his body: the heel and tendon that bears his name.

 

Application:  And this literate difference between the two heroes of antiquity: David and Achilles tells us more about the will and purpose of God than the mere heroic qualities of those who must live before the face of God.  In the end, Achilles is known as a vain human hero poised for being known to history for his military prowess alone.  If the movie is at all close to the real posturing of the ancient hero – his is only a sad narcistic story after all, he too could jump a shield wall, he too could ascend the heights of the city – he too could hobnob with kings and nobles – but for any great good to humanity: forget it.

 

David’s calling and place in history is more important, greater and ulterior to the working out of God’s will and providence in all of history since his day.  At the end, Achilles could not even stand up and there he died in the dust.  The New International Version admits David’s opposing testimony in these words: “my ankles do not turn.”

 

Even as our translation demonstrates:  David proposes that his God “gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip.”  David did not go down to dust in the battle field, but died in honor quietly many years later.  One thing that we can make of this comparison that should instruct the world:  God was with David and He was not with or for the Greek character Achilles.  And that makes all the difference in the world.  If God be for us, who can be against us?

 

Despite Homer’s heroic poetry – the character Achilles has had not great impact upon human history, but David – whose own greater Son transformed the whole history of mankind: David counted for more because He was God’s man for God’s own time.  May we arrange our calling and skills in a like manner to that of David and do the work for which we are trained, prepared and assigned.  Amen.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

PREACHING RESOURCES

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

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

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.

http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel018j.htm

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go to:  http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/