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2 Samuel 22 Bible study: The LORD is my rock
David's song calls the LORD his rock and fortress with the Hebrew words for the rock he went down to while Saul sought him and the stronghold he stayed in (1 Samuel 23:25, 22:4). It ends "to David and to his offspring, forever more" (22:51), and Paul gives its praise among the nations, also Psalm 18's, as written of Christ's work (Romans 15:8-9).
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“As for God, his way is perfect. The LORD’s word is tested. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.”
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“2 Samuel 22:1 says the LORD delivered David out of the hand of Saul.”
Is that in 2 Samuel 22, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
The rock and the stronghold
The chapter gives the song's occasion first: "David spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul" (22:1). Saul is the only enemy the chapter names. Then the song opens with a string of names for the LORD: "The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine" (22:2), "God is my rock in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge" (22:3) (tap rock and fortress). Two of those words were used in 1 Samuel of the years Saul pursued David. When Saul and his men went to seek him, "he went down to the rock" (1 Samuel 23:25), and rock there is sela, the word of 22:2. His father and mother stayed with the king of Moab "all the time that David was in the stronghold" (1 Samuel 22:4), and stronghold there is metsudah, the word the WEB gives here as fortress. The song doesn't point back to those places; the words are set side by side here.
Where it leads to Jesus
Praise among the Gentiles
2 Samuel 22:50leads toRomans 15:9
David's song ends in praise "among the nations": "Therefore I will give thanks to you, LORD, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name" (22:50). Psalm 18:49 has the same words. Paul writes, "Now I say that Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given to the fathers" (Romans 15:8), "and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy" (Romans 15:9), and he gives these words as scripture for it: "Therefore I will give praise to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name" (Romans 15:9). Paul doesn't say whether he quotes 2 Samuel 22 or Psalm 18; the words stand in both. The WEB has "nations" here and "Gentiles" in Romans; the Hebrew here is goyim (tap nations).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 2 Samuel 22
That was a taste
The rest of 2 Samuel 22 is waiting in Favor
- He heard, and came down
- His king, his anointed, his offspring
- The same song in Psalm 18
- Hannah's prayer and David's song
- "The words of this song"
- 14 questions as you read
- 14 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
צוּרtsursay TSOOR
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "rock, cliff". Strong's: "generally, a rock or boulder; figuratively, a refuge". The song uses it four times, all of God: "God is my rock in whom I take refuge" (22:3), "Who is a rock, besides our God?" (22:32), and twice in "Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation" (22:47). The first rock of the song, in 22:2, is another word, sela. Moses' song had called God "The Rock" (Deuteronomy 32:4), and Hannah had prayed, "nor is there any rock like our God" (1 Samuel 2:2). David's last words use it once more: "the Rock of Israel spoke to me" (23:3).
For your group
2 Samuel 22 Bible study questions
- 1"In my distress, I called on the LORD" (22:7). When has trouble been what taught you to call on God, and what happened?
- 2David sang, "He delivered me, because he delighted in me" (22:20). What would change in your week if you believed God delights in you?
- 3The song opens, "The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer" (22:2). If you wrote one line about who God has been to you, what picture would you use, and why?
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home