11 He rode on a cherub, and did fly; Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.
He lays the beams of his chambers in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.
So he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Hosts, who sits [above] the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.
> Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock, You who sit above the cherubim, shine forth.
Yahweh reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved.
The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side.
He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling [wheels], even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. He went in as I watched. Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. The glory of Yahweh mounted up from the cherub, [and stood] over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh's glory. The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks. It came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, that he went in, and stood beside a wheel. The cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took [of it], and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out. There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man's hand under their wings. I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone. As for their appearance, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel have been within a wheel. When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn't turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they didn't turn as they went. Their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, [even] the wheels that they four had. As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, the whirling [wheels]. Every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third face the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Samuel 22
Commentary on 2 Samuel 22 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 22
This chapter is a psalm, a psalm of praise; we find it afterwards inserted among David's psalms (Ps. 18) with some little variation. We have it here as it was first composed for his own closet and his own harp; but there we have it as it was afterwards delivered to the chief musician for the service of the church, a second edition with some amendments; for, though it was calculated primarily for David's case, yet it might indifferently serve the devotion of others, in giving thanks for their deliverances; or it was intended that his people should thus join with him in his thanksgivings, because, being a public person, his deliverances were to be accounted public blessings and called for public acknowledgments. The inspired historian, having largely related David's deliverances in this and the foregoing book, and one particularly in the close of the foregoing chapter, thought fit to record this sacred poem as a memorial of all that had been before related. Some think that David penned this psalm when he was old, upon a general review of the mercies of his life and the many wonderful preservations God had blessed him with, from first to last. We should in our praises, look as far back as we can, and not suffer time to wear out the sense of God's favours. Others think that he penned it when he was young, upon occasion of some of his first deliverances, and kept it by him for his use afterwards, and that, upon every new deliverance, his practice was to sing this song. But the book of Psalms shows that he varied as there was occasion, and confined not himself to one form. Here is,
2Sa 22:1
Observe here,
2Sa 22:2-51
Let us observe, in this song of praise,