Psalm 18:38

I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 18:38-39. They are fallen under my feet — Cast down to the ground, so that I may tread upon their necks, after the manner of conquerors, Deuteronomy 33:29; Joshua 10:24. Thou hast girded me, &c. — Thus again, as in Psalm 18:32, he gives God the whole praise of his great achievements and victories. It was he that inspired his forces with resolution and vigour, and thereby subdued under him those that rose up against him — Namely, his enemies who joined in battle to oppose and oppress him.

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 wounded them ... - I have so weakened them - so entirely prostrated them - that they were not able to rally again. This does not refer so much to wounds inflicted on individuals in the hostile ranks as to the entire host or army. It was so weakened that it could not again be put in battle array. The idea is that of successful pursuit and conquest.

They are fallen under my feet - I have completely trodden them down - a common mode of denoting entire victory, Psalm 119:118; Isaiah 25:10; Lamentations 1:15; Daniel 8:13; Luke 21:24.

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

i.e. Cast down to the ground, so as I may tread upon their necks, after the manner of conquerors, Deu 33:29 Joshua 10:24.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I have wounded them, that they were not able to rise,.... Which was not only true of the Amalekites, but of all with whom David engaged in war;

they are fallen under my feet; either dead, or become subject and tributaries to him; as the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites; see 2 Samuel 8:1. This, with Psalm 18:37, may very well be accommodated to David's antitype, and be expressive of the entire victory he has obtained over all his and his people's enemies; he wounded the heads over many countries, Psalm 110:6. Satan and his principalities and powers, whose head is broke, whose works are destroyed; yea, he himself, which had the power of death, so as not to be able to rise more against Christ, who has led captivity captive: he has also finished and made an end of sin, and overcome the world; nor did he turn back from this work he engaged in until he had made a complete conquest; and moreover he has likewise made his people more than conquerors, through him, over these same enemies; so that the words are also applicable to them.

Geneva Study Bible

I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

38. I have wounded them] Rather, I have smitten them through (Deuteronomy 33:11; Job 26:12). 2 Sam. has “Yea I consumed them, and smote them through,” the first verb being probably a gloss.

The R.V. renders the verbs in Psalm 18:37-38 as futures (I will pursue, &c.), but it is best to regard these verses, like those which precede and those which follow, as a retrospect. See Appendix, Note IV.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 38. - I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. It is remarkable that the nations which David subdued scarcely ever, while he lived, rose up again in revolt. Psalm 18:38

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.