The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
David came to the throne through almost insurmountable trials, and foreign enemies harassed him even into old age. Rather than boast of his own victories, he exalts God as the true author of them, showing that his reign prefigures Christ's kingdom, one that will triumph over all resistance by the Father's incomprehensible power.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 18:1-50
Poetry itself has no jewel brighter than these verses that follow: sorrow, the cry, God's descent, the rescue of the afflicted set to music worthy of heaven's harps. Christ our Saviour is the chief subject here, and every line finds its deepest meaning in Him.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 18:4
"The sorrows of death compassed me." Death like a cruel conqueror seemed to twist round about him the cords of pain. He was environed and hemmed in with threatening deaths of the most appalling sort. He was like a mariner broken by the storm and driven upon the rocks by dreadful breakers, white as the teeth of death.