Psalm 18:37

I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(37-40) Another retrospective glance of the poet over his past wars. Notice slight variations in Samuel.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:32, and the following verses, are the gifts of God to the spiritual warrior, whereby he is prepared for the contest, after the example of his victorious Leader. Learn that we must seek release being made through Christ, shall be rejected. In David the type, we behold out of trouble through Christ. The prayer put up, without reconciliation Jesus our Redeemer, conflicting with enemies, compassed with sorrows and with floods of ungodly men, enduring not only the pains of death, but the wrath of God for us; yet calling upon the Father with strong cries and tears; rescued from the grave; proceeding to reconcile, or to put under his feet all other enemies, till death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. We should love the Lord, our Strength, and our Salvation; we should call on him in every trouble, and praise him for every deliverance; we should aim to walk with him in all righteousness and true holiness, keeping from sin. If we belong to him, he conquers and reigns for us, and we shall conquer and reign through him, and partake of the mercy of our anointed King, which is promised to all his seed for evermore. Amen.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them - He had not only routed them, but had had strength to pursue them; he had not only pursued them, but he had been enabled to come up to them. The idea is that of complete success and absolute triumph.

Neither did I turn again - I was not driven back, nor was I weary and exhausted, and compelled to give over the pursuit.

Till they were consumed - Until they were all either slain or made captive, so that the hostile forces vanished. None of my enemies were left.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

37-41. In actual conflict, with God's aid, the defeat of his enemies is certain. A present and continued success is expressed.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them,.... Which may refer to David's pursuing the Amalekites, who overtook them and recovered all they had carried away, 1 Samuel 30:8; so Kimchi explains it;

neither did I turn again till they were consumed; for not a man escaped, save four hundred young men that rode on camels and fled, Psalm 18:17.

Geneva Study Bible

{d} I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

(d) David declares that he did nothing besides his calling, but was stirred up by God's Spirit to execute his judgments.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

37. Cp. Exodus 15:9. 2 Sam. reads destroyed for overtaken.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 37. - I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them (see 1 Samuel 30:8-17; 2 Samuel 8:1-13; 2 Samuel 10:6-18). Neither did I turn again till they were consumed. The greatest severities exercised by David seem to have been those against Edom (1 Kings 11:15, 16) and Ammon (2 Samuel 12:29-31). Otherwise he would seem not to have used, with any great harshness, his rights as a conqueror. Psalm 18:37

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 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 Psalm 18:38, Psalm 18:39 is made clear from the aorist which appears in Psalm 18:40, and from the perfects and futures in what follows it. The strophe begins with an echo of Exodus 15:9 (cf. supra Psalm 7:6). The poet calls his opponents קמי, as in Psalm 18:49, Psalm 44:6; Psalm 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 2 Kings 16:7).

(Note: 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.)

The frequent use of this phrase (e.g., Psalm 36:13, Lamentations 1:14) shows that קום in Psalm 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 (2 Chronicles 29:6), is here differently applied: Thou gavest, or madest me mine enemies a back, i.e., those who turn back, as in Exodus 23:27. From Psalm 21:13 (תּשׁיתמו שׁכם, Symm. τάξεις αὐτοὺς ἀποστρόφους) it becomes clear that ערף is not an accusative of the member beside the accusative of the person (as e.g., in Deuteronomy 33:11), but an accusative of the factitive object according to Ges. 139, 2.