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2 Samuel 22 · a question people ask

Which rescue is the earthquake and thunder of 22:8-16 about?

In the text

The song doesn't say. It names no battle and no place; 22:1 speaks of the day the LORD delivered David from "all his enemies" and from Saul. It is a song, and it speaks in pictures from its first line: the LORD is David's "rock" and "fortress" (22:2) and his "lamp" (22:29). When it says plainly what the LORD did, it says, "He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters" (22:17), "He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me" (22:18). The things of 22:8-16 are ones Israel had seen before. At Sinai there were "thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain" (Exodus 19:16), and "All of Mount Sinai smoked, because the LORD descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace" (Exodus 19:18), where descended, smoke and ascended are the same Hebrew words as 22:9-10's came down, smoke and went up. And when the Philistines came against Israel in Samuel's day, "the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines and confused them" (1 Samuel 7:10), with the same two Hebrew verbs as 22:14-15's thundered and confused.

The verses

“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, and he said: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;”
2 Samuel 22:1-2 · World English Bible
“For you are my lamp, LORD. The LORD will light up my darkness.”
2 Samuel 22:29 · World English Bible
“On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lower part of the mountain. All of Mount Sinai smoked, because the LORD descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.”
Exodus 19:16-18 · World English Bible
“As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines came near to battle against Israel; but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines and confused them; and they were struck down before Israel.”
1 Samuel 7:10 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Samuel 22

2 Samuel 22: 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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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions