Texts in Conversation
In Psalm 18, the singer declares their love for God and then describes the ropes of Sheol tightening around him. Psalm 116 opens with the same declaration of love and connects it to the same closing snares of death.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalm 18:1
Hebrew Bible
1 For the music director, by the Lord’s servant David, who sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord rescued him from the power of all his enemies, including Saul. He said: “I love you, Lord, my source of strength! 2 The Lord is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer. My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter, my shield, the horn that saves me, and my refuge. 3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I was delivered from my enemies. 4 The waves of death engulfed me, the currents of chaos overwhelmed me. 5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, the snares of death trapped me. 6 In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried out to my God. From his heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my cry for help.
Psalm 116:1
Hebrew Bible
1 I love the Lord because he heard my plea for mercy 2 and listened to me. As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. 3 The ropes of death tightened around me, the snares of Sheol confronted me. I was confronted with trouble and sorrow. 4 I called on the name of the Lord,“Please, Lord, rescue my life!”
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Notes and References
“... “I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications” (116:1). Only one other psalm begins with a declaration of love for the Lord (Ps. 18: “I love you, O LORD, my strength”). Alter suggests 116:1 could read, “I love the Lord when he hears.” Unabashed praise of love comes more easily from the Romantic nineteenth century than from our own cynical moment: it is “the sweetest of all graces and the surest of all evidences of salvation” to have love for God erupt in response to God’s saving work (Spurgeon 1976: 496). [...] Mays wisely sees the psalm as a description of what love does, and so what love is. Love calls the beloved by name (116:4), rests in the beloved (116:7), lives in the presence of the beloved (116:9), fulfills its vows in public (116:14), serves the beloved (116:16) (Mays 1994: 371). ...”
Byassee, Jason
Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible: Psalms 101-150
(pp. 162-163) Brazos Press, 2018
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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