[II Samuel, 22:1–50]
“David addressed the words of this song, etc.” [22:1]. David composed this song when he had rest from all of his enemies at the end of his days. When God had rescued him from all of his enemies.
“He said: O Lord, my crag, my fastness, my deliverer” [22:2]. He praised God and said: You, God, are my strong rock and my refuge who protects me from my enemies.
“My shield, my mighty champion, my fortress, etc.” [22:3]. You God are my shield and protector, strong as a bison. You are my help in protecting me from holdup by robbers.1Radak, II Samuel, 22:3.
“All praise. I called on the Lord and I was delivered from my enemies” [22:4]. When I call upon God and pray with the same praise, God causes me to be helped from my enemies.
“For the breakers of Death encompassed me, the torrents of Belial terrified me” [22:5]. Great troubles that break the heart surrounded me with sorrows, like the woman who comes to lament over her child, who is in great pain. My troubles were similar, like a great river that comes with much force to flood. Thus did the troubles rush over me.
“In my anguish I called on the Lord” [22:7]. When I am in pain, I called on God and He accepted my prayers from heaven and my cry reached His ears.
“Then the earth rocked and quaked” [22:8]. When the Holy One will pour out His wrath on the nations that harmed Israel, the earth will tremble and the foundations of the heavens will tremble before the anger of the Holy One. It is as if smoke comes out of His nostrils, out of great anger, and fire issues from His mouth.
“He bent the sky and came down, thick clouds beneath His feet” [22:10]. When the Holy One took revenge on Egypt and on Pharaoh, the Holy One lowered His heaven and a fog beneath His feet.2Rashi, II Samuel, 22:10.
“He mounted a cherub and flew, etc.” [22:11]. The Holy One rides a cherub and soars. He is seen on the wings of the angels called wind.
“He made pavilions of darkness around Him, etc.” [22:12]. The Holy One surrounds himself with darkness and great clouds with water around Him.
“In the brilliance before Him, blazed fiery coals” [22:13]. His fire gives light for the righteous that He loves and with the same fire, he burns the evildoers.3Radak, II Samuel, 22:13.
“He let loose bolts, and scattered them; lightning and put them to rout” [22:15]. The Holy One storms from Heaven, sends His arrows, and disperses them. He confuses the nations and makes them fall.
“The bed of the sea was exposed, etc.” [22:16]. When the Holy One scolded the sea and the mighty rivers, they became dry and the foundation of the world was seen. When the Holy One blew on it, the sea and the Jordan became dry because of Israel.
“He reached down from on high, He took me, drew me out of the mighty waters” [22:17]. The Holy One sends His angels and takes me out of all troubles and lifts me out of mighty waters. That is to say, great troubles are compared to mighty waters.
“He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me” [22:18]. The Holy One protects me from my enemies who are stronger than me. He rescued me from Goliath the Philistine.
“They came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay” [22:19]. David said: When I ran away from Saul, my enemies ran before me and blocked my path and informed on me to Saul, but the Holy One helped me.4Radak, II Samuel, 22:19.
“The Lord rewarded me according to my merit, he requited the cleanness of my hands” [22:21]. The Holy One requites my justice and me. He rewards me for the cleanness of my hands, because I have kept the commandments of the Holy One and have not departed from the path of the Holy One. All the laws of the Holy One are before me and I do not remove myself from His laws.
“With the loyal you have dealt loyally, with the blameless hero, blamelessly” [22:26]. David said: A person who is pious with God’s deeds, the Holy One also show him His grace to do good things for him.
“With the pure You act in purity, and with the perverse You are wily” [22:27]. The Holy One is pure with the pure person. That is to say, He shows himself to be pure with him. The person who walks in a crooked path, the Holy One behaves crookedly with him.
“To humble folk You give victory, and You look with scorn on the haughty” [22:28]. The Holy One helps the one who holds himself humble, like a pauper. The Holy One makes the one who holds himself haughty, humble and low.
“You, O lord, are my lamp, the Lord lights up my darkness” [22:29]. David said: in my troubles, the Holy One shines on me and protects me.
“With you, I can rush a barrier, with my God I can scale a wall” [22:30]. With the help of God I will break the gates of many people, of the nations. With the help of God, I will jump over walls.
“The way of God is pure. The word of the Lord, etc.” [22:31]. The Holy One is whole and His words are true and pure to reward those who rely on His protection.
“Yea, who is a god except the Lord, etc.” [22:32]. Who is also like our God and where is there a creator like our God?
“The God, my mighty stronghold, who kept my path secure” [22:33]. The Holy One is my strength with many people. He opens my path to the war.
“Who made my legs like a deer’s, and set me firm on the heights” [22:34]. The Holy One, who makes my feet run swiftly like a hind, and He places me on the heights. He trains my hands for war. The Holy One who draws the bow to shoot the strong bow.
“You have granted me the shield of Your protection” [22:36]. You have given me a shield and a promise of Your help. Your courage makes my stride wide under my feet and my feet should not fall or slip.
“I pursued my enemies and wiped them out, I did not turn back until I destroyed them” [22:38]. I will pursue my enemies and destroy them. I will not leave them under my feet.
“You have girt me with strength for battle, brought low my foes before me” [22:40]. You have strengthened me with power for the war. You bring low my enemies beneath me. My enemies show me their backs. I want to cut down my enemies.
“They looked, but there was none to deliver; to the Lord, but He answered them not” [22:42]. They will pray to God, but the Holy One will not help them and not answer them.
“I pounded them like dust and the earth, stamped, crushed, etc.” [22:43]. I will crush them and grind them very fine, like the dust of the earth and like the mire in the streets. I will make them fine and trample them.
“You have rescued me from the strife of peoples, kept me to be a ruler of nations” [22:44]. You God have made me run away from my enemies, from Israel. This is, Saul, Doeg and Ahitophel, who were all Israelites. You protected me until I became a leader and a king over Israel, my people, that I could not force them to serve me.5Radak, II Samuel, 22:44.
“Foreigners have cringed before me, paid me homage at the mere mention of me” [22:45]. The nations of the world must repudiate their transgressions against me. They are afraid of me, to learn of their transgressions. As soon as I command them, they fear and do what I say.
“Foreigners have lost courage, and come trembling out of their strongholds” [22:46]. The nations will tremble and will limp because of travails and difficult prisons.
“The Lord lives, blessed is my rock, exalted be God, the rock who gives me victory” [22:47]. David was praising and said: God who is my creator, my help who lives forever.
“The God who has vindicated me” [22:48]. God, who gives me victories, places my enemies beneath me, extracts me from enemies and makes me elevated. He protects me from lawless people.
“For this I sing Your praise among the nations and sing praises to Your name” [22:50]. Therefore, I will praise you, God, among all the nations and I will sing to Your name.
“Tower of victory to his king, etc.” [22:50]. He greeted the help of his king, helps and does kindness to his anointed, to David and his children forever.
Midrash Shohar Tov writes concerning the verse “He mounts a cherub” [22:11]. When Pharaoh pursued Israel, Pharaoh said: give me a stallion that runs swiftly and I will swiftly pursue Israel. The Holy One also took a horse and rode it to help Israel. Pharaoh then said: give me a mare that runs even faster. She can urinate when she runs. However, a stallion that wants to urinate must stop and stand still. The Holy One responded: you evildoer, do you have a cherub, a bird, an angel that I fly upon? Rabbi Aha gives a parable about a king. Robbers came and kidnapped his son. The servants ran and quickly prepared the king’s chariot with many horses to chase after the robbers. The king said: by the time all the horses will be harnessed to the chariot, my son will be lost. The king quickly took a horse from the chariot and pursued them on the horse. The Holy One also did not want to tarry to ride His Throne of Glory with all of His holy animals and cherubs. He took a cherub from the Throne of Glory and He rode on it to wage war with Pharaoh.6Midrash Shohar Tov, 18.14–15; Yalkut Shimoni, II Samuel, Remez, 160.
The Talmud writes in [tractate] Sanhedrin, in chapter ten, concerning the verse “to a humble folk You give victory” [22:28]. Rabbi Yohanan said: when you will see that Israel are humble in the exile and will be poor, then the Messiah will come and redeem them.7B. Sanhedrin, 98a; Yalkut Shimoni, II Samuel, Remez 161. However, when Israel will be arrogant, then they will delay the Messiah. There are many among Israel who pursue arrogance and are poor. The Holy One hates this very much. When a wealthy person is ar- rogant, this is nothing new, because money and goods cause the pursuit of arrogance. The Talmud writes that there is nothing better for Israel than poverty, in the expectation that the Messiah should come, and they should not pursue arrogance. It does not help when they are poor and pursue arrogance. Similarly, the opposite, when one is poor and wants to be arrogant, he must acquire fine clothes and good food, in the hope that people will lend him money, and people should think that he is rich. This hinders the Messiah, and many other sins also come from the pursuit of arrogance.
[Midrash] Shohar Tov writes: Rabbi Yudin said in the name of Rabbi Hama the son of Haninah. When the Messiah will come, the Holy One will seat the Messiah at His right hand and Abraham at His left hand. Abraham became frightened and said: the Messiah is my descendant and sits at the right hand. I am their father, should I sit at the left hand? The Holy One placated Abraham and said: your descendant, the Messiah, sits on My right hand and I sit at your right hand. This is an honor for you, as the verse says in the haftorah “your providence has made me great” [22:36]. That is, your humility has made me important.8Midrash Shohar Tov, 18.29; Yalkut Shimoni, II Samuel, Remez 162.
The Rabbati writes: There were four kings and each of the spoke differently to the Holy One. One of them was David, who prayed and said, “I pursued my enemies and overtook them” [Psalms, 18:38]. I will pursue my enemies and I will capture them and kill them. The Holy One heard his prayer and killed his enemies. Later there was a king called Asa. He said: I have no strength to kill the enemies, but I will pursue them and You, Holy One, should kill them. The Holy One said; I will do it, because concerning him it is written, “for they broke before the Lord” [II Chronicles, 14:12]. That is, they were killed before the Holy One. There was a king called Jehosaphat. He said before the Holy One. I do not even have the strength to pursue the enemies, but I will sing songs and will sing praises of God, and You, Holy One, pursue and kill the enemies. The Holy One said: I will do it. Sing the songs and I will pursue and kill them. Then there was a king called Hezekiah. He said before God. I cannot pursue and cannot kill and cannot sing songs, but I will sleep in my bed and You, Holy One, should kill the nations. The Holy One said: I will do it, as the verse says, “an angel of the Lord went out and struck down in the Assyrian camp” [Isaiah, 37:36].9Lamentations Rabbati, Petihtah 30; Yalkut Shimoni, II Samuel, Remez 163.
The Tanhuma writes. “Your providence10He translates the word as “humbleness,” based on a misunderstanding of the word. has made me great” [22:36]. We do not find anyone as humble as the Holy One. A person says to his friend, let us go to rejoice with the bride, or visit the sick, or bury the dead. He responds: it is humiliating to go to the bride or the sick person or the dead. The Holy One does not consider Himself important. He adorned Eve Himself, since one should dress a bride beautifully and adorn her. He led her to her groom, Adam. Concerning Abraham, the Holy One visited Abraham on the third day after his circumcision. He appeared to Abraham and visited him when he was sick from the circumcision. The Holy One himself buried Moses Our Teacher. Therefore, no person should pursue arrogance and the Messiah will come. Amen.11Yalkut Shimoni, II Samuel, Remez 161.