Psa 18:24 | KingComments | STEP | This passage is about the perfection of the Lord Jesus. David was sincerely devoted to the LORD and remained faithful to Him, but he was not perfect. As a weak picture of Christ, he speaks as a prophet of Him Who is truly and only perfect. What David is in perfection, he owes to the LORD; what the Lord Jesus is in perfection, He is personally. By virtue of that, He is King. The conclusion of is the introduction to . In these verses David says why God delighted in him and stood up for him. As mentioned, this description in its fullness is only true of the Lord Jesus. To Him fully applies what David says of himself in these verses. He was absolutely spotless and perfectly obedient to God’s ways and ordinances. In a certain sense David can say without presumption: “The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me” ( ). We must then remember that he is referring to the way he dealt with his greatest enemy, Saul. As long as David was not on the throne, he always acknowledged Saul as God’s appointed king. In this way he did righteousness, that is, he acted in accordance with the law of God, giving Saul the due respect. He has always kept his hands clean, even though he was twice stimulated to take the law into his own hands ( ). In reward for this, God rescued him. We see in David a dim shadow of Christ. What is true with David, but not always, is always, in all circumstances and perfectly, true with the Lord Jesus. Therefore, in these verses we see Him above all. He has been heard, as quoted above, for the piety that He demonstrated uninterruptedly in His life on earth. That was His righteousness, and it was rewarded to Him by God. Christ received His reward from God according to the purity of His hands, which always did only what God had told them to do. Never have His hands done anything impure. His hands were so pure that He could touch an unclean leper, thereby healing that leper of his leprosy and cleansing him ( ). David, in his attitude toward Saul, had “kept the ways of the LORD” and “had not wickedly departed” from his God ( ). He has done so because he has kept all of God’s ordinances in mind and has not put away His statutes from him ( ). He has not always been perfect in going the way of the LORD, nor has he always kept God’s ordinances, but this is again about his attitude toward Saul. In going the ways of the LORD and keeping God’s statutes, he was “blameless with Him” ( ). It never occurred to him to do anything against Saul because he was integrous before God. He lived in fellowship with God, which kept him from evil. This is especially true of the evil of taking the law into his own hands and getting Saul out of the way. The latter indicates that he was aware of the possibility of committing iniquity. Here we see that a believer’s walking in the way of the Lord without deviating from it is inseparable from obedience to the Word of God. We stay in the way of the Lord when we have His Word constantly before our eyes (cf. ). This too was practiced in perfection by our Savior. He always, uninterruptedly, walked in the ways of His God and had His law before Him throughout His life on earth. With Him this was not to give iniquity no chance to do it. He was and is without sin and had and has no tendency to sin in Him. In David speaks again of the cleanness of his hands as his righteousness and that God “recompensed” him on that basis, that is, rescued him. He did the same in . The fact that he mentions it again may be because he could have killed Saul twice, but did not do it either time. Both times he proved that he had clean hands. He is not a murderer and has no murderer’s blood on his hands. God saw that, it was “in His eyes”. Therefore, God has given him according to his righteousness. give the general principle according to which God acts. God did that in the life of David and always does with every person. As we behave toward other people, so God will act with us. In other words, the Lord Jesus says the same thing: “For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” ( ). If we show lovingkindness to others, God will show lovingkindness to us. We will reap what we sow ( ). Here we are talking about an attitude toward someone who has harmed or hurt us. “Kind” here is the Hebrew word that means faithfulness to the statutes of the covenant. The LORD says that He will certainly keep the statutes of that covenant if His people do the same. He is the faithful God of the covenant. God is blameless toward one who is blameless, that is, inwardly focused on God and displays that in his dealings with his fellow men. It means that God stands up for such a person when he is slandered or persecuted. The pure person is one who is pure, unmixed in his thoughts, motives and behavior; he keeps himself separated from the world. God shares His own purity with him; there is fellowship with Him, without anything of sin being able to disturb that fellowship. He who is crooked, literally “corrupted”, in the sense of perverse, follows wrong, twisted ways and tries to deviously drag others into his ways. He is not straight; he is a hypocrite. Such a person faces God as One Who is competing against him. He will deal with him according to what he is: depraved, twisted, wicked. What he has sown, he will reap ( ).

‏ Psalms 18:24

God’s Righteous Reward

This passage is about the perfection of the Lord Jesus. David was sincerely devoted to the LORD and remained faithful to Him, but he was not perfect. As a weak picture of Christ, he speaks as a prophet of Him Who is truly and only perfect. What David is in perfection, he owes to the LORD; what the Lord Jesus is in perfection, He is personally. By virtue of that, He is King.

The conclusion of Psa 18:19 is the introduction to Psa 18:20-24. In these verses David says why God delighted in him and stood up for him. As mentioned, this description in its fullness is only true of the Lord Jesus. To Him fully applies what David says of himself in these verses. He was absolutely spotless and perfectly obedient to God’s ways and ordinances.

In a certain sense David can say without presumption: “The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me” (Psa 18:20). We must then remember that he is referring to the way he dealt with his greatest enemy, Saul. As long as David was not on the throne, he always acknowledged Saul as God’s appointed king.

In this way he did righteousness, that is, he acted in accordance with the law of God, giving Saul the due respect. He has always kept his hands clean, even though he was twice stimulated to take the law into his own hands (1Sam 24:5 ; 11-14 ; 1Sam 26:9-11 ; 18). In reward for this, God rescued him.

We see in David a dim shadow of Christ. What is true with David, but not always, is always, in all circumstances and perfectly, true with the Lord Jesus. Therefore, in these verses we see Him above all. He has been heard, as quoted above, for the piety that He demonstrated uninterruptedly in His life on earth. That was His righteousness, and it was rewarded to Him by God.

Christ received His reward from God according to the purity of His hands, which always did only what God had told them to do. Never have His hands done anything impure. His hands were so pure that He could touch an unclean leper, thereby healing that leper of his leprosy and cleansing him (Mt 8:3).

David, in his attitude toward Saul, had “kept the ways of the LORD” and “had not wickedly departed” from his God (Psa 18:21). He has done so because he has kept all of God’s ordinances in mind and has not put away His statutes from him (Psa 18:22). He has not always been perfect in going the way of the LORD, nor has he always kept God’s ordinances, but this is again about his attitude toward Saul.

In going the ways of the LORD and keeping God’s statutes, he was “blameless with Him” (Psa 18:23). It never occurred to him to do anything against Saul because he was integrous before God. He lived in fellowship with God, which kept him from evil. This is especially true of the evil of taking the law into his own hands and getting Saul out of the way. The latter indicates that he was aware of the possibility of committing iniquity.

Here we see that a believer’s walking in the way of the Lord without deviating from it is inseparable from obedience to the Word of God. We stay in the way of the Lord when we have His Word constantly before our eyes (cf. Deu 8:6).

This too was practiced in perfection by our Savior. He always, uninterruptedly, walked in the ways of His God and had His law before Him throughout His life on earth. With Him this was not to give iniquity no chance to do it. He was and is without sin and had and has no tendency to sin in Him.

In Psa 18:24 David speaks again of the cleanness of his hands as his righteousness and that God “recompensed” him on that basis, that is, rescued him. He did the same in Psa 18:20. The fact that he mentions it again may be because he could have killed Saul twice, but did not do it either time. Both times he proved that he had clean hands. He is not a murderer and has no murderer’s blood on his hands. God saw that, it was “in His eyes”. Therefore, God has given him according to his righteousness.

Psa 18:25-26 give the general principle according to which God acts. God did that in the life of David and always does with every person. As we behave toward other people, so God will act with us. In other words, the Lord Jesus says the same thing: “For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Lk 6:38b).

If we show lovingkindness to others, God will show lovingkindness to us. We will reap what we sow (Gal 6:7b-8). Here we are talking about an attitude toward someone who has harmed or hurt us. “Kind” here is the Hebrew word that means faithfulness to the statutes of the covenant. The LORD says that He will certainly keep the statutes of that covenant if His people do the same. He is the faithful God of the covenant.

God is blameless toward one who is blameless, that is, inwardly focused on God and displays that in his dealings with his fellow men. It means that God stands up for such a person when he is slandered or persecuted. The pure person is one who is pure, unmixed in his thoughts, motives and behavior; he keeps himself separated from the world. God shares His own purity with him; there is fellowship with Him, without anything of sin being able to disturb that fellowship.

He who is crooked, literally “corrupted”, in the sense of perverse, follows wrong, twisted ways and tries to deviously drag others into his ways. He is not straight; he is a hypocrite. Such a person faces God as One Who is competing against him. He will deal with him according to what he is: depraved, twisted, wicked. What he has sown, he will reap (Gal 6:7b).