David Expresses His Trust in YHWH (Psalms 18:1-3).
‘I love you, O YHWH, my strength.'
These words are added to the beginning of the original Psalm. They are not found in the parallel Psalm in 2 Samuel 22:2-51. They are a declaration of personal faith and dedication, especially suitable for expressing worship. In them both the worshipper's genuine love for YHWH, and his personal dependence on His strength are both stressed. Love towards God and trust in His provided strength are the basis of all spiritual life. Blessed is the man who can truly say to God, ‘I love you' (Deuteronomy 6:5-6) and can also say, ‘YHWH is my strength', the One Who makes him strong.
‘YHWH is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge,
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
I will call on YHWH, who is worthy to be praised,
So shall I be saved from my enemies.'
David now multiplies metaphors in order to bring out the wonder of what it means to trust in the Almighty God, and the people enter into the experience with him. He twice describes God as a rock, the first time as a strong and firm foundation, the second as a useful hiding place. The idea is firstly of a rock which is firmly a part of the mountain of which it is the expression, firm, solid, dependable, unbreakable and sure. He had cause to know. He had spent much time in the mountains, and knew the strength of those solid rocks in the face of adversity. But he saw God as the great Rock, stronger and more dependable than all.
God was also his fortress, the place where he could go to find refuge so that he could look out on his enemy without fear. Once he was in his fortress he could laugh in the face of the enemy. And He was also his Deliverer, his Saviour. For God not only protects, He also delivers those who are His own.
The second mention of the rock has the idea of it as a place of refuge. It is still firm and strong, but it is a place where the fugitive may hide in its crevices, kept safe from those who would hunt him down.
The fact that the Psalm was introduced into public worship is an indication that we can each take these promises to ourselves. We too can depend on the Rock, take refuge in the Fortress and respond to and rejoice in the Saviour.
‘My God (El), my rock, in whom I will take refuge.' Above all YHWH is his God, the ever-reliable, the ever-dependable, the impregnable, the One in Whom is the place of total safety. Nothing can harm us when we are hidden in God, for when we are with Him all that would affect us must come through Him. It may seem fearful, but it is under His control, and can only enter with His permission.
‘My shield, and the horn of my salvation.' A shield is in a sense a personal fortress which we can carry around with us. It protects from all attacks, both by arrow, sword or spear, indeed from all assaults of the enemy (Ephesians 6:16). And a horn is the expression of personal strength which we bear, as it were, on our foreheads (as the wild ox does) and with which we can defend and deliver ourselves. It may well be that warriors wore horns on their headgear as an expression of their ferocity. But here our horn is God Himself. Nothing can stand before Him. Thus deliverance is sure. The promise is to each individual as well as to all. We will each be delivered because YHWH shields us and gives us saving strength, and acts as our horn with which to defeat the enemy. For the idea of the horn compare among other references Psalms 28:7-8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Luke 1:69.
‘My high tower.' And finally we reach the ultimate in security, ‘the high tower'. That mighty fortress which men built for maximum security, made even more secure by the fact that this particular high tower is God Himself. No vulnerability here.
‘I will call on YHWH, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies.' Thus David knows that he can call on this mighty Rock, this Fortress, this Deliverer, this Shield and Horn, this High Tower, the One Who is worthy of all praise, and will then in one way or another be saved from all his enemies. And all who sing the psalm with him know it too.